Elite
by imtoodamnbusy
Summary: Death is the goal and dream of one boy


I wrote most of this story but in the middle I had two of my friends write a little for it for me. I don't think that turned out too well so I discontinued it. Well anyways, enjoy. By the way, this is the whole story, so you don't have to suffer suspense like a few other people did. For some reason, the indentations and spacing doesn't show up, please don't blame me for blindness after reading.  
  
Elite  
  
Chapter 1  
  
As a young boy I was abandoned and taken in by a mysterious recluse, after ten years with him, I still don't know much about him. I have my own room, my own kitchen, a servant, and a chauffeur. The name on the 'Parent/Guardian' line on all my forms is Susan Thatcher. In a way, my life in my later years are strongly connected to her existence, but lets start from the beginning. At fourteen, my life is basically normal, school, homework, play, eat, sleep, and repeat. But a big difference is that the most important stuff about me is unknown, at school and outside, I'm Kyle Thatcher, but to my benefactor and possible employer, I'm number Thirteen. On my twelfth birthday, Susan brought a laptop into my room. She said it was from Mr. Durden. When I turned it on, I became Thirteen.  
  
Periodically, usually every month or so, a video is sent to me through my computer, and on it are instructions and information on stealth. Soon, I was sent information on various ways to escape a tight situation. After two years, I had enough training to kill, and get away with it. Today, my sixteenth birthday, I was summoned by Mr. Durden. As I left my small apartment, an unfamiliar person lead me to a parked car. We drove in silence and we arrived at a large mansion. I assumed this was Mr. Durden's. My driver lead me to a room full of sixteen and seventeen year olds. "He's the last one sir." the guide said. Hearing this Mr. Durden cleared his throat, everyone looked at him expectantly.  
  
"Welcome Thirteen, it is time for you to take the Elite test." Mr. Durden said and signaled to a near by guard.  
  
What the hell is he talking about? I thought, suddenly everything became black. Then I realized a bag had been thrown over me. A jerk of the rope and I fell painfully to the floor.  
  
"Since your specialty is stealth, the test is for you to escape the bag and a jail cell that will be guarded by other Elite units. You must then retrieve a package, then you have to open the package." Mr. Durden continued, "I trust your lock picking skills are adequate. There will be Elite units on patrol in the complex you shall be taken to. You have the authorization to use what ever means necessary to escape. That includes removing obstacles permanently."  
  
After Mr. Durden finished, I felt someone grab my arm and then a sharp prick, a needle emptied its chemicals into me, I began to lose consciousness.  
  
When I woke up, I felt hard floor beneath me, I realized I was in the jail cell, and the bag was still on me. I stopped my movements, it's better that the guards don't know I'm awake. I began to wait, just like my two years of training, patience is a big part of stealth.  
  
"Are you sure it was wise to allow him to kill?"  
  
"Yes, he'll do fine."  
  
"Don't you remember the previous subject?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"How do you know this one's any different?"  
  
"I don't"  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Finally, one of the thread from the rope around my wrists ripped apart. Slowly I picked at the other ones with my teeth, always careful not to move too much. Slowly the other thread also ripped, and I was able to get my hands free. Now I began to work on my ankles.  
  
"Man he hasn't moved at all for two days, you think he's ok?" number Three said.  
  
"He's fine, leave it alone," number Eight answered. "I got to go take a leak. I'll be right back." number Eight got up and left, presumably to the bathroom.  
  
I wonder if the kids alright, thought Three. Maybe I should check on him. He stood up and walked over to the cell, he unlocked it and stepped in. When he opened the bag to look inside, a fist came flying out and knocked him back.  
  
Here's my chance, I thought. I quickly knocked number Three out with a fist to the temple. Hope I don't kill him, I thought as I put his clothes on. A good disguise can be useful. I put Three into the bag and tied it up. I locked the cell and sat down at the desk. Soon I heard footsteps form the hall to my right, I quickly swiveled around on my chair so that back was to the entrance of the room.  
  
"Hey, nothing happened when I was gone, right?"  
  
"Yeah," I said. I turned around and tackled him, as he reeled backwards I put my foot behind his and he tripped to the floor. His head hit and he was out. I dragged him into the cell along with his partner. After I locked up, I splashed some water on Eight to wake him up.  
  
"Where's the package?" I asked eight.  
  
"I don't know, all I was told was to keep you in here." Eight said as he started to untie the bag and release number Three. While he was doing that, I looked through the desk drawers, and in the third one I found an envelope. In it, there was a note among other things.  
  
'Congratulations, you got out. In this envelope is a map of this complex. The location of the package is circled in red, and your location is circled in blue. Good luck, and watch out for guards.'  
  
I left the room and began making my way to the mystery package.  
  
"Man, I want him on my squad." Three said after waking up.  
  
"Hell no dude, he's on mine."  
  
"We'll see."  
  
As I made my second turn, I spot a patrolling figure. I waited till he passed and I walked slowly behind him. As he turned to the left, I quickly and silently dove to the right and slipped around the corner. In the shadows, I waited till he was out of sight, then I continued to my objective. When I reached the circle on the map, I saw that the package was in a room with three windows, one facing me, one to the left and one to the right. It appeared that there was only one guard inside. I realized that this might be a little complicated. I waited until he turned to look out the window facing left. I opened the door and grabbed his mouth from behind. Then I whispered.  
  
"If you make a sound, I'll rip your balls off." he seemed to understand what I said and he remained quiet. I applied pressure to his neck and soon he fell to the floor, unconscious. I looked around and saw that there was a briefcase on the table. I looked through the selection of locks attached to it and started working on them with the paper clip I found on the table. Inside I found my basic equipment, chloroform, and a 9mm pistol with silencer. There was also a note.  
  
'You're doing well, now you have to get out'  
  
I checked my map for an exit and I headed off in that direction. When I could see the stairs leading out, I go a little excited and forgot about stealth. As I ran past an intersection in the halls, I saw a guard running towards me.  
  
Oh shit, I thought. I put my back to the wall just past the corner and waited. When he came around the corner, I grabbed his neck and put my gun barrel into his mouth. "Shut up." I whispered. "I'm going to let go of your neck, and your going to stay still." I let go, and reached for my chloroform with my hand. My right hand still holding the gun, I brought the chloroform up with my left and handed it to my prisoner. I also gave him the piece of cloth that was included with the bottle.  
  
"I'm authorized to kill, but I'm a nice guy so I'm giving you this chance to live. Chloroform yourself so I can go about my business."  
  
For a second he just stood there, but then he took the cloth and started to apply the liquid. When he took off the bandana on his face, I realized that it was a girl. She put the cloth on her mouth/nose area and held it there. I saw that she began to lose stability and I caught her as she fell to the floor. I saw a look of gratitude on her face as she lost consciousness. I took the bottle and cloth out of her hands and put them away. Outside, Mr. Durden was waiting.  
  
"You passed the test." Mr. Durden said. "Welcome aboard."  
  
"What if I don't want to be 'on board'?" I asked defiantly.  
  
"I think you do." With that two guards near the car took my shoulders and forced me in with Mr. Durden. "When we arrive at the mansion, I will explain your position in my Elite force."  
  
When we arrived, I took a shower and then met up with everyone in the meeting room. When I entered I saw a few familiar faces, Three, Eight and the girl. I mostly noticed the girl. Three and Eight approached me, I got ready for whatever punishment I had coming. Instead they congratulated me on a job well done.  
  
"No hard feelings right?" I said hopefully.  
  
"None at all. Nice work kid." Three answered. "Take a seat, Mr. Durden is going to speak soon."  
  
I sat down and Mr. Durden started to talk. "We all know why we're here, let's welcome Thirteen to the team. Now for the business part. Since he is the thirteenth member, he will not be assigned a squad. Both the red and blue have the full six, instead he will be Special Ops. Now enjoy the rest of tonight, and don't stay up too late Thirteen, you got an assignment tomorrow."  
  
Mr. Durden left and I met the other members one by one, the girl was last to talk to me. "Leave me alone, just cause you beat me once doesn't mean you can do it again." I was a little surprised about what she said, and later, I was a little angry. After that, I lost my interest in meeting the other guys, I slipped away and went to my room. I thought about the girl while I was trying to fall asleep. Didn't I spare her life? Don't I get something for that at least. With these troubled thoughts, I waited for sleep to come.  
  
"Wake up." Someone said from my doorway, I absently thought that I should get a lock soon.  
  
"Not asleep yet."  
  
"I'm number Eleven, hacker extraordinaire." the voice said. "Tomorrow you'll be working with me to break down the computer system of a pirating ring."  
  
"So?" I asked, starting to feel a little frustrated that he wasn't leaving.  
  
"Try to get some sleep, it'll be early."  
  
"I was." I muttered as I fell asleep  
  
Chapter 3  
  
"Time to go," Eleven's voice came into the conscious part of my sleeping mind. Over the years I have learned to never sleep deeply. "What time is it?" I muttered as I felt around for my clothes. "Doesn't matter man, we have to go regardless," Eleven waited patiently for me to get dressed. "Come on, Mr. Darden will brief us in the car." Like Eleven said, Mr. Durden told us what we had to do on the way to our destination. "Thirteen is in command of this mission. You will be breaking into a pirating ring to wipe out their computers. Thirteen, you will have to get past the guards and get Eleven to a safe location with a computer he can hack into. You have permission to solve your problems in any way you choose." As he said this, Mr. Durden handed me a fiber wire and the 9mm silenced pistol I used during my test. "But dispose of the body." The car slowed to a stop and we were two shadows in the night as we emerged from the interior. Eleven and I were both wearing black suits with ties to make us fit in more inside the building. When we stepped inside, I checked to make sure my equipment was out of sight and then I looked around. "Ok, Mr. Durden said that there is a computer on the second floor that I can access." Eleven said softly. After a slight nod of my head we both headed over to the elevator. When I was about to step in, a guard stopped me. "Hold on there, this is for employees only. If you would like to purchase a product, please use the front desk for assistance." "Thank you," I said as I turned around. "Now what?" Eleven asked. "Walk." We walked back to the lobby and once again I looked around, this time I headed to a small room on the right side with a guard in it. When we neared the entrance, I whispered to Eleven. "Hit me lightly in the stomach." For a moment Eleven just stood there, then he processed what I said and did as he was told. I exaggerated the effect and pretended to stumble backwards. The nearby guard noticed and when he started walking towards me, I faked a trip and sprawled into him. The moment I made contact with the guard, I regained my balance and spun behind him as I grabbed his mouth and neck. Eleven followed me as I dragged the guard into the room. Just as the guard lost consciousness a voice yelled in the room. "What the hell is this? You can't just come in here." I was surprised and a little freaked out. I was going on adrenaline and instinct, I whipped out my gun and shot the man sitting in front of his computer. "Was that part of the plan?" Eleven asked. "Shut up," I quickly moved the dead man so he wouldn't bleed onto the carpet. "Go do your stuff." "Right," Eleven sat down in front of the computer and started working. "How long do you need?" I asked as I hid the two bodies. "Ten minutes." And like he said, after ten minutes he got up and stretched. "What now?" Eleven asked. "We leave," but before I left, I checked the sleeping guard's body and tucked away the berretta I found. I looked up and saw that Eleven had not seen what I did. "Let's go." After leaving the building I called Mr. Durden on the cell phone he gave me, and five minutes later, we were on our way home. In the car Mr. Durden congratulated me on my first job. When we arrived at the mansion he lead us into the meeting room where everyone was waiting. Upon entering I was greeted with congratulations and nice jobs all around. Then Mr. Durden spoke. "You did pretty well for a first time, although the man you killed was of some importance, but I'm sure we can get someone to clean that up." And then he dismissed everyone. "Go eat." As we filled out, I saw Mr. Durden pull the girl aside. "Come on man, let's go to the cafeteria. You left so early yesterday, the guys think your anti-social." Eleven lead me by the arm. "We have a cafeteria?" I said absently. We got our food after waiting in line and as I was heading to a table I saw the girl come in with anger on her face. I waited until she got her food and sat down at a table, and then I sat in front of her. "Hi there," I said conversationally. "Leave me alone." "Do you have a name? Or are you just number Nine?" "What do you want?" Nine was picking at her food and looked like she didn't want any. "Why are you so hostile to me? Is it because your still mad about what happened during my test?" I was starting to be annoyed by her attitude. "No, because of you killing that man, we have to go clean it up later." She finally looked at me, and I saw the anger in her eyes, I decided it'd be best not to push her to far right now. "Look, I was surprised, I didn't know what to do." I was beginning to go on the defensive side now. "Well, did you think of sticking the gun into his mouth and handing him some chloroform?" "So you're still pissed about that hun? Are all girls like you, or are you special?" Her eyes flashed for a moment and then it was gone, I could tell she wanted to kill me right now, so I decided to back off. After a second, she cooled off and picked up her tray. She dumped the rest of her food into a trash can and left. Seeing this, Eleven waved my over to a table and the Blue Squad was introduced to me one by one. I quickly made a mental note of what I was told. Seven is the commander of Blue, a tactics and recon specialist. Eight is the explosives expert, arming and de-arming. Nine is the girl, weapons expert and marksman. Ten is the vehicle expert, can steal then drive, fly, and sail anything, or so he claims. Eleven is the electronics expert, hacking is also part of his package. And finally Twelve is the Blue Squad's medic. We ate while the squad told me about their experiences on the Elite team. I learned that they were all self taught through a laptop like I was. We were about finished when the intercom buzzed to life. "Blue squad and Thirteen, report to briefing room in five minutes, have general equipment ready." "Damn, five minutes," Seven started to clean up and leave. "Alright men, get the equipment ready and see you all in five minutes, Eleven, you help Thirteen get ready." We each went our separate ways and I went to my room. I quickly hid my berretta under the piles of clothes in my closet. I slipped my fiber wire into my tie, and took off the suit. I changed into more casual wear and shortly after, Eleven came in. "You ready?" "Yeah, I think I have everything I need." I tucked the 9mm into my belt and followed Eleven out the door. "What's going on?" "I don't know, we get briefed soon." We went into a room next to the meeting room. When entered, I saw that everyone was already there and Mr. Durden started talking the moment I sat down. "We looked into that man that Thirteen killed about an hour ago. I noticed something peculiar. Apparently, he's part of the mafia, but the thing I don't understand is why the mafia is concerning themselves with the software theft ring. That's where you come in. One part of the team will find out what the connection there is between the mafia and the ring, and the other will assassinate the detective nosing around for answers. Split up however you like." "Alright squad, we'll split up into three," Seven said. "Eight and Eleven, you guys are with me, we'll find out what's going on behind closed doors. Ten and Twelve you'll be on stand by, who ever needs help, you should be ready to be there. To get there, Ten, you have permission to steal whatever you want, just don't go over the top like last time, that Ferrari cost us over fifty thousand in repairs. And finally, Nine and-" "No," Nine said, "I won't work with him." "Yes you will, and that's an order," Seven yelled into her face, in a calmer voice he said, "You two will take out the detective, preferably undetected." "Go do your stuff," Mr. Durden got up and dismissed us. Everyone stood up and headed out, on the way to the car, Eleven whispered in my ear. "Good luck man. This could be your chance for redemption." With that thought in mind, I followed Nine into the car. We sat in silence for a while, waiting for the car to arrive at our target location. I finally broke the silence in a careful tone. "Still mad at me? We're gonna have to communicate if we're going to do this." "Sit there and shut up." "That's a start," I said, I decided to heed her advice so we sat in silence once again. The car dropped us off into the alley behind the building across from the one I was in with Eleven earlier. "Now what?" "We go up to the roof," Nine said as she shoved me into the building. It was a cheap slum where al the filth of the city gathers. The homeless and addicts lie in the rooms and halls, a few were relaxing on the stairs. Nine motioned for me to go up, so I did as I was told. On my way up the stairs, a bum stood up and grabbed me by the neck. "What the hell are you doing here kid?" "I got a delivery on the second floor." I quickly said. "Maybe you can help me find the receiver, I'm sure there will something in it for you." "You better not be lying kid." The bum followed me up. "I swear I'll kill you if you are." I looked back as I climbed the stairs, I saw Nine standing unnoticed in the shadows, and I think I saw worry on her face. On the second floor, I looked around for a room number. "I'm supposed to deliver it to room 205." I said, "Know where it is?" "Yeah kid, follow me." He walked ahead of me, and while his back was turned I grabbed his neck and hit him on the head with the pistol butt. I dragged his body into the shadows and pulled out my pocket knife. I made sure he would never wake up. I went back down stairs and looked for Nine, but she wasn't where she was when I went up. I felt someone's presence behind me and I whirled around, ready to fight. When I saw that it was nine, I lowered my guard. Suddenly she lashed out at me with her fist and caught me on the jaw. "What the hell?!" I yelled. "You killed that guy! You can't just kill someone like that!" "Alright, alright, I'm sorry ok? I won't do it again." Nine turned around and headed to the roof. I followed her while trying to decide if that look of relief on her face was real or not. On the roof, Nine opened the briefcase she was carrying. She pulled out various pieces of her sniper rifle. She began to set it up after all the pieces were laid out in front of her. I stood guard and watched her work. "My name is Julie." She said as she finished assembling her weapon. "Hun?" I was surprised that she started talking to me. Then I realized that she was telling me her name. "Oh, I'm Kyle." Julie walked over to the edge of the roof and set herself up for the shot. After a moment of silence. A shot rang out in the morning air and a split second later Julie cursed. "Shit! I missed, Son of a bitch, the bastard moved!" "Try again!" I screamed, my ears were still ringing from the sudden noise. Julie took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Get us out man, we're gonna be in a tight place if you don't show. Get something soft, Ten." Julie stuffed the phone back into her pocket and aimed again. "Dammit, he's running, but I think...Hell Yeah! Got him." Julie quickly packed up and I ran to the penthouse stairs. I looked down and saw police rushing up at us. "Awww crap, Julie, they're coming up."  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"No problem," she looked down at the street and threw her briefcase down. Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me to the edge. She then pushed me over, and jumped down beside me. "Trust me," She whispered All I could do was not scream. We were free falling for five stories in the morning air, but I was sure that Julie had a plan. It turns out that she did, we hit softly onto what felt like mattresses, we started moving. I looked around, we were on mattresses in the bed of a pickup truck that Ten had stolen. Then I looked at Julie, she was already looking for her sniper rifle. "I didn't think I'd get you into bed this fast," I said with a smile. "Shut up and help me look," She sounded angry but I saw a smile on her lips too. Soon we found her briefcase and got into the cab of the truck. "Gotta love Serta right?" Ten laughed. "Told you I could drive anything." I was still freaked out by the whole incident so I decided to keep quiet and wait for my heart rate to get back to remotely normal. "Thanks Ten, I knew I could count on you," Julie said. "No prob." Ten replied. "We're almost back at the mansion, get ready to report." The truck pulled into the mansion's garage and we got out. Mr. Durden himself welcomed us back and led us into the meeting room. "So, how'd it go?" Mr. Durden inquired. "Successful." Nine answered. "Good, turn in your equipment." I handed my gun over and Julie turned in the briefcase. We were dismissed and we each went our separate ways. I went to my room to get some rest, I haven't gotten much these days. I didn't realize how tired I was. After all that adrenaline, I was exhausted. After lying in my bed for a minute, I fell into a light sleep. Images flashed through my mind as I slept. Images of my past, and present. In my hazy mind I saw my parents, I was four when I last saw them. Then another picture replace that one. I was back in the room with the man i killed. This time he was still alive, I saw my gun barrel flash and a bullet slowly traverse the distance between us. I tried to stop it but couldn't. I hoped for it to miss but I knew it would hit the mark. I had never killed before, I had mixed feelings about this. I knew my life wasn't a fairy tale world, I had to do it. Somewhere in the distance I heard a door opening. A voice snapped me out of my daze. I reluctantly opened my eyes in the darkness. "Hey, wake up." A soft voice whispered. I looked up and saw that it was Julie. "I brought you some dinner. Thought you might be hungry." "Thanks, now that you mention it, I'm starving." I took the plate from her hands and started eating. "Have you had dinner yet?" "No, not yet." Julie laughed. "I guess I just felt bad about being so mean to you, so this is my peace offering." "Well, I'm sorry too, about what happened during my test." I offered her my plate. "Wanna share this? This'll be my peace offering, plus i remember that my mom once said, if we share, we'll all have more." "That's beautiful, and yes I would love to accept your offer." We ate in silence for a while. In the dark, both of us were just shadows eating together. To anyone passing by we were just two friends enjoying each other's company and sharing a meal. I knew this was true, but I also knew we were so much more.  
  
Julie finally broke the peaceful silence. "How long has it been since you last saw your parents?" "Ten years." I said between bites of pork chop. "In a way, I haven't seen mine for seven years. I get to visit them twice a year but it's like I don't know them. They're just strangers. On top of that, I have a sister who was born after Mr. Durden took me in. so she has no idea who I am." Julie's voice was soft and reflective, I knew it'd be best for me to keep quiet. "My mom tells her that I am her sister but she just won't believe it. My dad has given up on our relationship. I think he would rather have me stop visiting and stop upsetting Casey, that's my sister's name. I was brought here because my mom was pregnant with me in college so she had to drop out. She and my dad tried to support me but they finally gave up when Mr. Durden offered to take care of me and give them some money." At this point, in the dim light, I saw tears on her face. I did what I thought was the right thing to do. I moved the food plate and put my arms around Julie. I knew I had done the right thing when she laid her head on my shoulder. In my mind, I was thinking of what to do next. I couldn't think of anything because I had no previous experience in situations like this. So I decided to tell her about myself. "I remember my mom because I have an old picture of her. She always wanted the best life for me. I asked Susan one day of how I ended up here and she told me that my mom took me here when I was four. I vaguely remember that day. Susan told me that my father died in a car accident and my mom couldn't support us both. After she knew that Mr. Durden would take care of me, she left town." I fell silent, my story had ended. "Feeling better?" Julie raised her head and looked at me, this was the first time I really had a good look at her. She was beautiful, her brown eyes were bright even in the darkness of my room. Her face was angelic and made me happy just looking at her. "Yeah, a little better. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in the world." A smile began to form on her lips. "Are you still hungry? I know I am." I asked hopefully. I really needed some food, after the day I had, I was famished. She saw the desperation in my eyes and laughed, a sound that brought peace to my mind. I realized that I was in love. "Yeah, let's go down to the caf, I think they're still open." When we arrived, One and Seven were discussing something, and Ten was still eating at another table. When we got our food, Ten waved us over with a smile. "Hey man, I thought you dies in there. You've been asleep for over fifteen hours. It's one in the morning." "Yeah, well I was tired," I said as I started digging into my food. "And hungry hun?" Ten smiled. "Oh yeah, why is your shoulder wet?" I had forgotten about that, I looked at Julie and saw in her eyes that she wanted to keep what happened to ourselves. "Well you know, a funny thing about me is that...un..." I was grasping at straws now, I was desperate for any reason. "I drool while I sleep, so when I wake up, one of my shoulders is always wet. Sometimes it's the left sometimes it's the right. I never know, it's like a surprise every time I wake up."  
  
Julie laughed and flashed me a smile. Ten gave me a weird look that made me laugh and in the end all three of us laughed together. "Will you please shut up?!" Seven yelled. "We're discussing something important here so keep it down!" "Looks like we're unwelcome here." Ten said as he picked up his tray. "Well, see ya." Julie and I decided to leave too, this time we went to Julie's room. Her room was decorated with girlish things like her stuffed animals and posters of various bands. I recognized the 'Thursday' one. "You like Thursday?" I asked. "Yeah, they're my favorite." "Mine too," I said as I pooped her CD into the player. The room filled with the war torn and scorched images of America. We ate as we listened to Geoff Rickly sing.  
"...I ran down the stairs and into the garden, put both my hands into the soil. In the spring, you will bloom, like her heart, through the blouse, in the back of the ambulance, as it turned and turned in the streets, just one more turn won't you come back to me. As it turned on its red lights, you were turning into red roses but I'm not giving up..."  
When we were done eating, we sat in silence for a while. I wasn't sure what was supposed to happen now. I was relieved when Julie broke the silence. "Well I think I'm gonna go to sleep now." Julie looked at me expectantly and I looked back for a minute before I realized I was supposed to leave.  
"Oh, Yeah. Umm...I'll see you in the morning." I left and went back to my room where I spent the rest of my waking moments thinking of Julie and my unconscious ones dreaming of her.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"Wake up," Again the voice came, but this time the voice was different. I didn't bother complaining this time. I looked around in the darkness, and squinted my eyes when I turned on the lights. It was Seven.  
"What do you want?" I asked in a slurred voice. "Mr. Durden has a job for us." "Again?" I sighed and got dressed, a minute later I was in the briefing room with the rest of the Elite team. "This will be an important mission," Mr. Durden said. "Your target is the mafia. The police has agreed to look the other way about the death of the detective if we cooperate with them. I want the Red Squad to secure the building and the Blue Squad to plant the bombs. Thirteen, you'll be heading off to the Don's mansion where you'll assassinate him." "By himself?" Nine asked. "Isn't that a little reckless?" "I'll be fine," I said. "Just take care of yourself." "Thirteen will leave now, and the rest of you will stay for further details." Mr. Durden opened the floor plan of the target building I began to leave but I looked back and saw a worried look on Julie's face. I was sure it was real this time, I smiled at her and tried to seem confident, I knew this would be tough. I turned around the corner and went out the front door, there was a car waiting like always. Twenty minutes later, I stood in the shadows near the mansion. There were two guards at the front gate, both with SMGs. Two more patrolling on each side for a total of six guards outside. In the font yard, there were three more, one at the front door, one patrolling the left side, and one in the garage. I was sure there were more on the inside. I was told to wear my suit and now I saw why. All the guards were wearing them, I had a disguise already but I wouldn't pass a close inspection. There were clusters of trees through out the yard and outside, I could use those. Time to work. I was given a pair of lock picks and another 9mm silenced for this mission. I had I had a gun tucked into my belt on each side of my back. They were hidden by the sports jacket I wore. I quietly made my way to the right side. I hid behind a tree and waited for the guards to start walking to the back. When they both passed my hiding spot I slipped out and reached behind me. By the time my jacket fell back both men were dead with a bullet each in the head. I dragged both of them into the cover of trees and took one of their SMGs. I unscrewed the silencer from one of my pistols and took a bullet out from the one. The silencer went onto my SMG and the bullet went into the other 9mm to fill up the clip. I put the unsilenced gun into my left inside pocket and the SMG into my right one. My remaining 9mm went into my sleeve, I had made a strap this morning for just that purpose. Before I continued, I took the clip out from the other SMG and put it in my belt. I went to the back of the mansion courtyard and saw no guards. I realized that there was no gate into the interior but there was only a stone wall. There was also no trees for me to use to get over, so I started to climb the wall. I pulled my head over the edge and looked around. There were two patrolling a little distance off, I jumped down before they saw me. When they did see me, they approached me with curiosity, it was only supposed to be those two in the back yard. When they were with in twenty feet of me, I swung my right arm in an arm horizontally. The centrifugal force made the gun slip out and I caught it just as it was fully out. My gun arm was still swinging and when my gun was pointed at the guard on the right, I fired and once again as it was pointed at the guard on the left. They both fell to the ground with holes in their heads. I took two bullets from the other pistol and put them in the one I just used. I hid both bodies behind some trees again and went to the back door. I looked through keyhole and saw no one there, I so I picked the lock and went in. I looked around inside and saw that there were two doors to my left and right, stairs leading to the second floor, and a door in front of me to the front section of the house. I took the stairs up slowly and killed the guard at the top with my 9mm. Again I took a bullet out of the unsilenced gun and put it into the silenced one. There was a room on my left and in front of me. I cautiously opened the door to the left of me and looked in, I saw that there was no one there so I stepped in. it appeared to be a bed room, probably the Don's. I looked around, something caught my eyes, and I smile. I took the car keys from the dresser top and left the room. I looked through the keyhole of the other door and saw that it lead to a hall. There was a guard on the other side with his back to me. I took out my fiber wire from my tie and slowly opened the door. Just as the guard turned around, I tightened the wire and threw it around his neck. After a few chokes and grunts he fell to the ground. I dragged his body into the room that I was in and entered the hall. A door in front of me had "The Boss' Office" labeled on it and I assumed that was where I could find the Don. Once again the keyhole served as a view for me. The boss was inside and so was his lawyer, the one that persuades with a 12 gage shotgun. I realized that this was not going to be easy. How do I get in and out quietly? I turned the doorknob and opened the door just enough so that it wouldn't close when I let go. I released my breath when I knew neither of them saw what I did. I stood back and took out my 9mm and SMG, the silenced ones of course. With my pistol in my right hand and my SMG in the other, I took deep breath and calmed myself. "Whosoever sheds my blood," I whispered. "By my hand shall his blood be shed. For the image of God may deem a man. Destroy all that which is evil, so that what is good may flourish."  
  
Chapter 6  
  
My prayer done, I burst into the room with my guns blazing. I aimed my pistol at the Don and my SMG at the lawyer. The shots from my right hand were fast and accurate, before the Don knew what was happening, he was dead with three bullets in the head. My left hand however, shot wild. I was going for the spray and pray method but my arm was just too weak to support the kick back. The lawyer sprung into action and dived behind the desk. He shot me with his shotgun and the scatter shot ripped into my left shoulder. I felt a burning heat and I knew my left arm was useless. The loud shot triggered the guards to rush to the boss' room, I had maybe ten seconds before they would arrive. There was a window behind the desk, it overlooked the front yard. I ran at it and jumped over the desk in the process. I spun around as I was still airborne and shot the lawyer. A split second later, my back shattered the glass, I began to fall down the two stories. Before I hit, I turned to my right side and landed hard on my arm, but I knew I'd be ok after resting awhile. I immediately sprung up after the fall, and ran for the garage. There was a guard patrolling there and I ran straight at him. When he saw me, he raised his gun, but it was too late, I was too close. At the moment he fired, I jumped left and passed him by his right side, my left. My left hand caught him in his stomach, and his stomach flashed. When he fell to the ground, his blood was changing the grass red and the empty bullet case floated in the puddle. Once I was in the garage, I jumped into the car and fired it up. In the back of my mind I was wondering if I knew how to drive properly. It turned out that it was pretty easy and I rammed down the gates and drove aimlessly. I was lucky that it was very late, there was almost no traffic. My wounds were bleeding too much, my sight was beginning to cloud. If I keep bleeding, all of this will fade away. If I keep driving, I'll be lying in the wreck. I had nothing to bandage my shoulder up with. I could barely feel it anymore, it would either be severely weakened, or useless. Either way, I didn't care. I saw familiar sights and knew where I was, but I also knew I wouldn't make it back o the mansion alive. My only hope was to find the Red and Blue Squads. The medics, six and twelve. I needed help, and I needed it bad. I drove around in my weakening state for a few minutes when I spotted dark shapes near a building. I knew I had found it. As I pulled up to the curb, a shape approached me carrying a military issue M-16. "Holy shit!" One yelled when he saw who I was. "Get six over here, now!" A familiar face came into my view and I managed to give him a thumbs up before I blacked out.  
  
It's been awhile since I woke up on my own accords. I opened my eyes and saw that it was night. I was still in my suit, and I had all my guns and ammo from the mission. My left sleeve was off, my left shoulder was all bandaged up, it didn't even itch, I couldn't feel anything. I looked around and saw Ten, asleep in the chair beside my bed. "Hey," I said quietly. Ten opened his eyes in surprise and smiled. "Great you're awake. I'll get Julie, she was by your side for two nights, but she was tired so I offered to watch you for a while." "No, let her sleep." "She really likes you, you know," Ten sighed. "Some guys have all the luck." "Yeah? I like her too, but..." I sighed too. "I can't, I'm not the lucky one. I will never be the lucky one. I have to leave soon." "Fate is a funny thing, one day it's screwing you over, the next, it's bringing you unimaginable fortunes." Ten said. "Believe, believe in a better future and you can make it happen." "So what's your story?" I asked. "Me? Just another guy in love." Ten said quietly. "Good luck with Julie." I smiled. I suddenly remembered something, with my right hand I reached into my pocket and put my car keys into Ten's hand. "Maybe you can impress her with a brand new car." "Thanks," Ten laughed. "Rest now, you need to be at your fullest to try to win her away from my car." I fell back into my exhausted sleep after that, but I was never quite fully asleep. A light doze, the one you can't get up from. I don't know how long I stayed like that when I heard voices, they seemed distant and had a dreamlike quality. I suppose it was just my haze. "When do you think he'll be awake again?" The voice sounded female. "I don't know, but you've waited long enough. You must be tired and hungry." "No, I can wait a few more hours. I just want to see him awake again. I want to see him smile, and I want to hear his voice. Are you sure he was awake earlier?" "Yeah, we had a nice chat. He gave me this." "I wish it would be me and him riding around with out a care." The other voice sighed. "I know." "I want to stay here and wait." "I do too, but you can 't let yourself starve. You haven't eaten in two days, let's go down to the caf for lunch." "But, he might wake up while I'm gone." "I know, but he wouldn't want you to wither away into nothing. You have to eat." "I suppose you're right, I just haven't felt like eating lately." "Let's go." Then the voices faded away and it was just me again. And the red haze. The faces of those who I killed swam before me. I never had a problem with killing, just after, in my dreams. The faces disappeared, I saw myself. Then bleeding bullets from all directions flew at me, I saw holes in myself and I heard myself scream. Out of the shadows I saw myself walk out, five of me. They all had hungry looks on their faces, there was also glee. They loved killing...I loved killing. Then from the sky, Julie came down with white light. The figures in the darkness shrank back form the light, then burned up light vampires in the sun. She spoke. "Don't kill with vengeance, nor with hate. Only kill when you need to, and minimize the need. Live well, and die well." I sat up in my sleep and woke up instantly. I was out of breath, sweat matted down my hair. The memory of the dream was like an old picture, fading with time, yet the brightest areas remain vivid in my mind. I woke up on a dreamy day, I put my cold feet on the floor. I remembered that I'm pretending to be who I'm not anymore. I decided to take a shower but first I took off my bandage. I threw it in the trash and looked at my wound. It was bad. The infection was mostly killed by Six's antibiotics, but it was not enough. I knew what I had to do. I took my pocketknife out and heated it with my lighter. I don't smoke but I always carried one around incase I needed fire. I emptied the clip from my pistol and took out a bullet. I picked it open with my knife and emptied the gun power onto a piece of paper. I put the knife down, it was glowing red from the fire. I put the gun barrel sideways into my mouth, to stifle my screams. I slowly put the gunpowder on to my wound and bit down on the gun. Then I took my lighter and flicked it on, the fire hit the powder and it flared. I bit harder on the gun. I picked up my knife and the gun fell out of my mouth. I didn't fell like picking it up again so I continued. I touched red hot knife on my skin and bit my lips, a small sound escaped my lungs. I burned the wound to close it. Blood trickled down my chin and on to my bed. I went into the bathroom. I put the knife into the sink after I turned on the cold water. The steam that came up from the knife clouded up my mirror. But before it was completely clouded, I saw my reflection. I looked dead. I took a shower and completely ignored the pain. By the time I got out, I was half crazy. The pain was more than I could endure, but I couldn't scream. It would make me...human. I sat down at my desk and started to write a note, a note to Julie. I can't stay here anymore, but I wanted to see Julie one last time. I got up and my pencil fell to the floor, my note was pretty long. I went down to the cafeteria and stood in the doorway. I saw Julie eating with Ten, her back was to me. There she was, fragile. It was hard to see that it was the same person who was the sniper for the Blue Squad, the same person who once hated me, the same person who I couldn't love. It was time to go. Just then, Ten looked up and saw me, I mouthed good luck to him as he pointed me to Julie. When Julie turned around, I was already gone. I was panting heavily in my room, packing when Mr. Durden came in. "Ready?" He asked. "Almost, just a few more things." "The car will take you to the airport, I expect to hear from you in a year." "I know." I said as I picked up my suitcase. We were walking down the hall when Ten ran up to me. "You're leaving now?" "Yeah." "Thought you might want this." Ten handed me a picture. A picture of Julie. I put it away and smiled. "Thanks man, you're a good guy." With that, I left. After a thirty-minute drive I was at the airport. Before I got on my plane, Mr. Durden and I spoke a few words. "Is your objective clear?" "Yes sir." "Don't fail me." "I never do sir." Two hours later, my contact in Boston picked me up and took me to a place where some one erased all my records. I didn't exist anymore, at least not on paper.  
  
Chapter 6x  
  
I lied to you, the same way that I always do. I'm not who you think I am, I'm not the one for you. All the time we wasted, spent fighting, will burn in the fire of my regrets. This is the last time I'll fake it for the sake of being with you. I don't belong here, I was recruited for...a darker purpose. I need to leave for now, I'm sorry I didn't say good bye. Was our love real? Well let's just say I got what I wanted, a chance to be close to you. I will always be like this, I will always be the killer. This is me with my eyes down the scope of a gun. This is me living the dark half. You've ruptured the walls around my heart and I'm thankful. I used to feel so lost, before I met you. Forget our memories, forget our possibilities, I can't stay. If I stay I'd hurt the ones around me. I'm not so sure, if I'm sure of anything anymore, but this is the last time that I'll be keeping secrets from you. Boys like me are a dime a dozen, so cheer up, you'll find someone else. Ten is a nice guy, have fun in his car. Maybe you should hate me for this. I'd never lie to you, unless I had to, I'll do what I got to. The truth is that you could slit my throat and with my one last gasping breath, I'd apologize for bleeding on your shoe. It's times like these when silence means everything, and no one is to know about this. It's a shame, I don't think the others would understand. They might hate me for this. What ever I had got myself into has been slicing inches from my waist lately. You need not to be involved. It's my fist verses the world, and this could hurt me. I held you close like a bottle, but the glass broke and you spilled into my mouth. I must leave before I get...addicted. This is the reality, we could've been more under different circumstances. But this is what living like this does. But just know this, even when you're not with me, you're the one I see when I close my eyes. Even when I'm gone, you'll be in my dreams.  
  
Yours always, Kyle Thatcher  
  
Chapter 7 (Joey)  
  
?'s point of view I saw Thirteen leave. He left without even saying a word. He left her stranded. She, who was abandoned by her parents who did not want her to come visit them on holidays, was standing there just crying. Simply crying. The Thirteen no longer was the topic of lots of conversation among the Blue squad. All his actions, strategies, and his feeling, which we guessed, towards Nine no longer brought smiles and laughter. Thirteen was just 13, a demon number. It felt as if only reason Thirteen came to us was to break Julie's heart. All we wanted now was to erase all his memories and start all over. It seemed that Mr. Durden was quite aware of this or he never would have granted Nine a Christmas break complete with a ticket to beach under Californian sun. He sent Eleven to accompany her. Somehow, I began to feel the same hatred I had towards Thirteen. I watched the clock tick by in my messy room. It was a long day. Especially without Nine besides me. I saw my room against the moonlight in my bed. All those figures written on the wall... No wonder Mr. Durden gets mad at me so easily. He has to pay for all the paints to paint my room, and my room seems to be half the size of the room it first was. All that paint... I smile and went to bed. Only to be awaken by my cell phone, 8 in the morning. It was Julie. She panicked and said only five words. Eleven... arrested... don't... tell... Durden...  
  
narrator's point of view It was early in the afternoon when Nine and Eleven left for the beach. They both got their swimming cloth and left the team for the holiday. They got changed in separate room of course, and started to have fun swimming. Julie seemed sad but she was determined to recover. Soon, tired and starved Julie was, they decided to take a break and tan themselves in the sun. Here Eleven ran in to a friend he had before he moved into the Elite. This is where it all screwed up. "Hi, is that you Brian?" "Are you SUPPOSE to KNOW ANYONE?" said Julie sarcastically. She was in a better mood now. "Uhh... that is Christine. We USED TO go out with each other." Said Eleven. "So what do you do these days? Everyone wonders where you have gone after you left, what was it? 1 year ago?" said Christine. "Really? But I can't tell you about me becau..." said Eleven. "CHRISTINE!!!" There was a giant, who yell these words and looked into a face of a young woman. "You are NOT Christine" "Christine isn't THAT ugly!" He grabbed her hair and pushed her 10 feet away from that scene. Now the three, that is to say Eleven, Nine, and Christine, looked at the young man in amazement. It seemed that Nine and Christine was expecting Eleven to do something about it. "What's going on?" "Oh Brandon," said Christine annoyed. "That bulk followed us to the beach again." Pretty soon the giant spotted them and came down amazingly fast for his size. "Christine, what are you doing here with all these bunch of faggots? Ha Ha, it is YOU again little boy, come on, protect her little boy, but hey no need, because Christine loves ME MORE! hahahaha." Brandon, who wanted to do SOMETHING looked pretty helpless. "Get a life you son of a bitch," these words actually came from Christine. "HUH? I got Christine MAD at me, FORGIVE ME! For I LOVE THEE!" He got all red and puffy and, luckly, ran away. "What the HELL was that?" said Eleven. "That is Charles, I just ran across him on the street and he follows me everywhere and I DO mean EVERYWHERE. I just wish he would drop dead!" "Sue him then," said Nine quietly. "Can't, his dad's a cop, AND his mom's a lawyer, can you believe it?" Nine looked at Eleven "Shall we ..." "NO" said Eleven. Nine looked pretty upset. Nine and Eleven got back to their rooms after dinner, and another scene was waiting for them there.  
  
Diagram... (open= all the way) --Brandon Door------Christine Door-----Seven Door------Eleven Door-----  
open open closed closed  
  
"Brandon" "Christine" "9and11"  
  
HALL  
  
Closed (thankfully) --Charles Door----------??------------??--------------??------------  
  
Nine and Eleven, returning from a fancy dinner, just entered the hall when they heard a loud argument. "I can't believe you got a separated room just now." "I ain't going close to you when that bulk is around, that bitch got a room just across the room that WAS ours." "So you are abandoning me just like that?" and Christine started to cry. "Yeah just like that." Brandon whammed the door. "Hey are you all right?" said Eleven. "No...Just leave me alone." "Comon, lets go," said Nine quietly. They entered a room and chatted for about an hour the scene they just saw and started to curse Brandon for about when Christine knocked on the door. They invited her in. "I'm sorry, but I was just too scared please don't send me away, I will go when you sleep but just now, please." "Sure, we'd love to help." Said Nine, with a smile. So they chatted about Eleven's old days when Christine thought that it might be a good idea to have some beer. Eleven offered to go and 30 minutes later he returned.  
"What took you so long?" asked Seven. "The line was terrible." Now it seemed almost a party. Julie and Christine wrote "I'm a dumbass. Really, I am" on a piece of paper and put it on Brian's back. They laughed and Brian kept asking what they were laughing about. About an hour later, around 12:30, Christine left. Around 1, Eleven left too and they all went to bed. Loud knocks woke all Nine, Christine, and Eleven up. "This is the police, please cooperate and get out of your rooms, NOW." "What the hell is going on?" said all the people who just woke up, and Brandon who showed up. "There has been a murder across the room, we wanted to know if you knew anything. "Look, there has been a murder, and what does that got to do with us?" said Eleven who was used to murders, grew up in the bad side of town. "Because, the man who got killed is named, Charles, and a lot of people told us that he has been following you people ever since you got to the beach, correct?" "Yeah, but what does that got to do with us?" "As far as I know, you are ALL suspects for you do have a reason to kill him." "Bring them in," said the detective as he turned around, but he saw the manager of the hotel running at them. "Here officer, I thought this might help. In this hotel, there is a sensor that detects the opening of doors for more security. The times are recorded but I am afraid that it won't tell you who went inside or outside" "Excellent" The time on Charles's door read 9:00, 11:31, and 11:39. "If he got in at 9, then he was murdered between 11:31 and 11:39..." said the detective. Brandon's door read 10:00 and 7:00. "I got in at 10 and got out for breakfast at 7." "Here is the receipt" "Cleared." Christine's door read 10:00, 11:00, 12:30, and 8:00. "I got in at 10 but I was scared so I went to Brian's room from 11 to 12:30 and woke up at 8 by you people." "Cleared." Said the detective. Nine's door read 1:00 and 8:00. "I stayed on Eleven's room until 1 and woke up now." "Cleared." Said the detective Eleven's door read 10:00, 11:00, 11:10, 11:40, 12:30, 1:00, and 8:00 "We, me and Julie, got in at 10, Christine came over at 11, I went out for beer at 11:10 and returned at 11:40. Christine left at 12:30, and Julie left at 1. Happy now?" "No, it took you 30 mins to get some beers? And the murder time matches. Got any reasons?" "The line was too--" "Excuse me detective, we found two finger prints one half over the other on the knob. The one under was Charles's. We took a sample a moment ago." Said a police. "Will you let us check your finger print?" "OK......all right." Eleven was an Elite, he couldn't leave track but refusing seemed not so smart. "The top one matches sir" The police said a moment later. "Any explanations?" asked the detective. "Yeah, with the beers I grabbed the wrong door." "Get him," said the detective. "No, I tell you, I didn't kill anybody!" "You have the right to SHUT UP now. Bring him in." "Where are you taking him?" cried Nine. "To prison, he will wait his sentence there." "You don't have enough proof!" said Nine. "That's for me to decide, bring him in, and if you stop us one more time, then we will take you with us!" "I will be Ok, I didn't do anything, trust me all right?" said Eleven. He had a look on his face, a half smile, and a weird shine in his eyes. Nine glanced at the crime scene. Charles was stabbed in the back by a dagger with no finger prints while he was *busy* with a picture of Christine. Nine had to do something. She called her Blue Squad right away.  
  
Chapter 8 (Joey)  
  
?'s point of view "Calm down Julie, I will help you." I said half-heartedly. "Oh thank you. Please hurry!" "Sure right away."  
  
I turned to the wall, my sketchbook, and started to copy some notes Julie told me down. All the time figure showed that Eleven killed Charles. It seemed hopeless. Unless... "Ah..." I whispered. I called Julie. "Call the police and bring all the people who was at the scene back to the hotel. I think I have some ideas. Put on you microphone on your ear and I will give you the instructions."  
  
"This had BETTER BE GOOD, or we are taking you in too missy." Said the detective. Christine and Brandon, who were amazingly still together, started to argue again. "Look I am really sorry, I was very selfish that night. Please Christine..." "I am not taking any excuses from you asshole, you abandoned me and now that Charles's is dead, you just came back you son of a bitch." "That is enough." Said Nine, with her instructions coming from the earphone. "Don't lie Christine. You love him as much as he does and he never abandoned you has he?" "What? You saw him yourself slamming his door behind him! How could you say something like that?" yelled Christine furiously. "Like this...Everyone, please look at me, Brian and I will do a little bit of demonstration here. Ready Brian?" "Sure if anything could get me out of this." "Now I will be Christine and Brian will be Brandon. We will have the same fight they had last night all over. Watch closely."  
  
Observe the diagram here note that people are watching from the point where Nine and Eleven was that night.  
  
"I can't believe you got a separated room just now." "I ain't going close to you when that bulk is around, that bitch got a room just across the room that WAS ours." "So you are abandoning me just like that?" and Nine started to cry. "Yeah just like that." Eleven slammed the door." "That was better than I thought, considering that Eleven never practiced." Said Nine. "What was the point of that? Why are we wasting time here? You get out now Brian, or you will suffer more." Said the detective "The point is that I was buying time for Brian to run away." Said Julie softly. "WHAT? you are under arrest lady and get Brian out of there now!" "Polices kicked the door which they just heard "wham" and went inside. "Uh.. detective, there is nobody in here." "Check the window!" "It can only be locked from inside and it is locked, he could have escaped this way!" "Get that stupid girl!" But before anybody could get close enough to Nine, Nine's door burst open and Eleven popped out. "TA DA!" They all were amazed except Nine who was smiling. "How could they...? There is no door connecting the rooms...How...?" polices murmured. "It is quite simple. Remember that Brian was out of view of yours because my door was open. What he did was whamming his door from the outside but he got into my room." "Smart, but what does THAT prove?" said the detective. "When Christine visited us last night, they both got out at the same time, but Christine went to my room and Brandon hid out of the way. When Brandon saw Brian coming out to get beers, Brandon sneaked out and picked Charles's door. However, since Charles's was making such a noise doing something, he did not hear. Brandon then killed Charles and hid himself again. When Christine came out, he reported to Christine telling her what happened." "Until the morning 7 o clock, Brandon spent the night outside and came back at 7 to open and close his door again from the outside, and then he went to get his breakfast." "Got a better story?" Nine asked the detective. "But that doesn't prove the finger prints." "It was Brian's mistake on grabbing the wrong door. There was fingerprint on the knob but there was none on the dagger. Now who would do that? If he was smart enough not to leave fingerprint on the dagger, he would not have left one on the door." "Wow missy, you are better than I thought." The polices grabbed Brandon and Christine and took them away. "I am sorry..." said Christine. "That is all we have to say." "That bitch, smart bitch..." murmured Brandon. "How could she frame me like that?" said Eleven. "Maybe because you are too naïve and is easy to get." Said Julie. "I am an Elite and I am no naïve nor am I a easy target!" said Eleven defensively. "Oh yeah?" With that she took the note that said "I'm a dumbass. Really, I am" off Brian's back.  
  
"Thanks" said Eleven once he calmed down. "Don't thank me... Thank Ten."  
  
Chapter 9 (Kelly)  
  
narrator's point of view, Julie's dream Thirteen busts into the Don's office pulling the triggers on both his guns. But he notices that his targets aren't falling dead to the ground with bullets in their heads. Then he realizes his guns are jammed for some unknown reason. He thinks to himself, They were working fine a moment ago so why the fuck aren't they now. The Don and his lawyer stood there laughing their heads off at this pathetic little show. The Don nodded his head at the lawyer and the lawyer nodded back like they knew what each other was thinking. They decided that Thirteen's fate would be to have a closed casket at his funeral. Thirteen knew that he wasn't going to make it out of there alive if he didn't act fast. He dropped his pistol and his SMG and ran for the window. But it was too late. The Don and his lawyer started firing their weapons. Thirteen dropped to the floor. His whole life flashed right before his eyes. The last image his mind saw was Julie and he thought of how beautiful she was. That was when one of the bullets that were flying across the room hit him dead center between his eyes. The gunfire didn't cease until Thirteen was unrecognizable. But the laughter didn't stop until much later. This was the highlight of the evening for the Don and his lawyer. The guards came rushing in wondering what the hell was going on.  
  
"Clean up this mess!!!... and call someone to come replace this carpet." The Don ordered them, still laughing. They just stood there for a moment wondering what happened and why he was laughing. "NOW!!!!" he yelled at them. So they began there work, afraid that if they didn't do as they were told they would end up like the guy all over the carpet.  
  
Julie's point of view  
  
I woke up gasping for breath, thinking to myself about how much I hate that dream. Besides Thirteen wouldn't die so pathetically like that. I got up for a drink of water and went back to bed. I knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep unless I got my mind off of Thirteen so I started counting backwards from a thousand. It sounds silly but for me it works. Sometimes anyways. When I got down to about eight hundred I heard tapping noises at the window. I thought it was just a branch blowing in the breeze and knocking against the window but it persisted. Annoyed, I got up and looked outside. Nothing there. Then I heard something moving around. Inside the room. I got scared and searched desperately for a light but I ending up tripping over a table and flying head first into a wall. Someone or something grabbed me and threw me on to the bed. Everything seemed to go black for a minute but then the lights came on. Thirteen was standing right in front of me. I was so overjoyed that I jumped right up and gave him a hug. "Oh my god!!! What are you doing here??? I missed you so much!!! I thought I would never..." I stopped in mid sentence. Something was wrong. He wasn't smiling or talking and he looked... like one of the zombie guys from Resident Evil, only less gruesome. And somehow he didn't look like Thirteen at all anymore. He looked like a complete stranger to me. I was really confused now. "Eleven??? Is that you?? Are you just pulling a joke on me and trying to scare me??? 'cause it's working!!!! Please tell me that this is all just a big, stupid joke!!!!!!" I screamed and cried at whoever was standing in front of me. "Oh this is no joke Julie!! I can promise you that!!!" His voice was so filled with evil and hate that I knew that it was the truth. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. He pulled the trigger...  
  
end dream  
  
I woke up screaming my head off. Eleven broke through door to see what the hell was going on. "What's wrong?????" he screamed at me with a look of extreme concern. "I just had a dream that I was about to be killed!!!!" I said. "That's it??????????? You probably woke up everyone in this fucking hotel because of a dream?????? Jeez, I thought you were being killed in here!!!!!!!!!!" I could tell he was really annoyed with me and I started to cry. He sat down beside me and put his arm around me, hoping I would calm down. "It must have been some nightmare Cause I've never heard you scream in your sleep before." He kind of laughed at this. "It's not funny." But even as I said this I laughed a little too. "It just seemed so real!! I hate double dreams!!!!!!!!!" We both started to laugh. "So are you going to be ok?" he asked "Yea, I'll be ok." He gave me a hug and went back to his room. I decided I would try to go back to sleep even though I didn't think it was going to b possible. But amazingly within a half hour I fallen into a deep sleep.  
  
morning  
  
The early morning disturbance had seemed entirely like a dream. If I didn't ask 11 if it had actually happened it would probably still seem like a dream. The whole morning the only thing I could think about was what does it mean? I skipped breakfast and went for a walk down by the beach. I found a place away from everyone else and sat down. I must have been there for at least an hour before I was interrupted from my private thinking time. "Hey." I turned around startled. It was only Eleven. "How'd you find me?" I asked. "Well, I thought to myself, if I were Julie..." "The truth!!" "I followed you. I gave you some alone time now it's time to talk. So tell me about this dream of yours." So I told him everything except for anything that had to do with Thirteen. Which was pretty much most of it. "And you know what the worst part of it is? I was going to die so pathetically." He smiled when I said this. But I think I knew that he knew there was more to this than I was telling him. So I kind of figured what was going to come out of his mouth next. "So when are you going to tell me the rest?" I looked at him like he was crazy for a moment hoping he would buy into the 'there is nothing else to tell you' story. But I knew it wouldn't work so I sighed and started all over again without skipping anything. "Don't you realize that all Thirteen is doing for you right now is making you miserable? If you ask me, I think he's a jerk for just leaving like that." "But I wasn't asking you!!" I said in an angry tone. "But I know your right."  
  
narrator's point of view  
  
Julie figured out what her dream meant. It was her worst fear, waking up after a bad dream, someone breaking into the place and killing her. Thirteen was just in the original dream because she cared for him, she knew he shouldn't have been assigned to that mission by himself and when he came back nearly dead she actually thought he might die. And since she had no idea where he was or what he was doing she didn't know if he was dead or alive. With every passing day of Christmas vacation Julie started feeling more hate for Thirteen than love. Eventually the hate would disappear but the love wouldn't come back.  
  
Chapter 10 (Joey)  
  
At last, the day they had to go back the Mr. Durden came back. They made reservations for the tickets after they had dinner and went to bed. Ever since the dream Julie had, it sort of became a tradition for Eleven and her to go for a walk in the morning before breakfast and talk about what kind of dreams they had. Fortunately, Julie no longer had such dream and recovered to her top form. She needed to be in her best if she was going to perform all the tasks back at the mansion. After that, they got back into the hotel to get ready to go back. Julie went into her room just to grab her things she already packed up before she went to bed only to find a huge mess. "Brian! Get over here!" she cried as she looked for her purse and other valuables. "What's up? Holy shit! What the hell did you do to this room? " "It wasn't me! Check your room and see if your stuffs are OK. All my money is gone!" "Hang on, is your equipments still with you?" "Yeah, don't worry about me. Go check your room!" Eleven went into his room right after that. "What the fuck!!! How the fuck... why fucking did this fuck... the happen... FUCK the fuck. What kind of fucking fuck did this fuck...ARG!" Eleven lost control. He only came to his sensed when he found out that Julie was standing behind him. "Oh, hi" "That sure shows the diversity of the word 'fuck'," she said with a grim expression. "So, you too huh? Check this out, this might interest you." "Hang on, let me just get my stuff. Man! Only my laptop is alive! Good thing I hid it. Wow, they totally smashed the built in safe! Well, I can at least get my money back from the hotel," murmured Brian as he got outside.  
He slowly walked outside thinking what Seven would say when he finds out about this. Commotions in the hall made him come back to reality. Some people were standing in front of their door open staring inside. 'I bet I know what they are looking at...' thought Eleven. Even as the small crowd in front of them were shrieking, more people came back up to their rooms from breakfast only to find even bigger messes in their rooms. When things got too loud, people who stayed in their rooms came out asking their neighbors what was going on. Managers soon appeared to calm the crowds and to figure out what damages had been done. It seemed that all the people who left their rooms in this floor were robbed.  
"I can't believe that we are caught in this kind of stuff again! This is vacation! I thought I saw the worst when I was arrested! Damn those robbers." As Eleven grumbled, Nine noticed that something interesting was going on. "Hey what is this?" A voice shouted out from the room next to Julies. "I found a disk and I am pretty sure that this doesn't belong to me." The man said giving the disk to the manager. As fast as they could, Eleven and Nine went into their rooms and found the same disks lying on their beds. "Come on Julie, let's go to somewhere we can be guaranteed privacy. Bring your suitcase with the sniper rifle." "Just give me a moment!" Julie got into her room and made a quick phone call. Then Julie followed Brian and went into the elevator that was at the same floor that moment. Brian turned the power off inside so that nobody would barge in and turned his laptop on. As Julie watched closely behind him, Brian inserted the disk that was labeled "1" into his laptop. When he opened the disk after various virus checks, he found himself looking at some clock that suddenly appeared outside the A: drive window. It was a countdown that was ticking away. It showed 00:01:52. It obviously meant that something was going to happen after 1 minute 52 seconds. "Take it out now!" Julie cried. "It is gonna blow up the laptop!" "Calm down Julie, disks aren't big enough for bombs. Besides, the best it can do is planting some tough viruses and THAT is my specialty. Hang on, there is something else." Brian clicked on the folder only to find a message that he did not have the authority to access the file. "Hang on, this will take me some time." As Brian was working to break the file's security down, the countdown reached 7 seconds then 6, then 5...then 0. "BOOM" The elevator started to shake very violently and screaming outside seemed to get louder and louder. "It was a bomb! It's a bomb!" Nine and Eleven shouted out madly. "Common! Let's get out of here before this thing falls down!" cried Eleven as he frantically scrambled around to pack up his laptop. After some time, they desperately thought to think of an idea to get out. "Here, use my knife! I will give you a boost and try to hack the ceiling off." After a while of a lot of grunts, pushes, and pulls, they made it out. They found a ladder beside the exterior of the elevator and climbed it. It lead them to the top of the building and they escaped through the vents. "What the hell was that?" Cried Nine. "Lookie yonder. The building is on fire!" Eleven shouted as he looked over the ledge 20 stories tall. There was a huge commotion 200 feet below and more bangs still erupted from the building under their feet. "How the hell are we gonna escape now?" Eleven Yelled as he looked around to find any means of escape. "Don't worry! Heads up!" From the cloud of dusts, a helicopter emerged with Twelve hanging out of the window! "I called Ten to pick us up before we got into the elevator. Here he comes now." Soon, they were all in the helicopter and Ten and Twelve started asking questions soon after Twelve checked for injuries. "I don't know what happened Ten, we have something that might help us," said Julie. After a lot of obstacles, Eleven managed to get the file open. "Guys, this ain't any ordinary mass murder..." muttered Eleven.  
  
Chapter 11  
  
Time is a valuable thing, I watch the clock hands spin as it flies out the window. It's been two months already, I've had no assignments yet. No orders, no work, but that doesn't mean no pay. Mr. Durden set me up as the mercenary of the Boston mob, I charge by the hour. But my price attaches a duty to me, I do the jobs that the normal thugs and underlings can't do. I do...special work. I hadn't familiarized myself with the people around me because at anytime, I may be ordered to kill one or more of them. That was the Don's orders for me, Mr. Durden's however was to kill the Don. They're both using me, but in reality I'm the one in control. They don't know it. The Don was an easy target his routine was easily memorized.  
Breakfast at eight in his mansion, come to the business front for the mafia at nine. Works till one in the afternoon and has lunch delivered to his desk and eats it there. Then he goes onto his veranda and plays a little golf, putting of course. Comes back in at one forty-five and works until he leaves for home at five. Jus the regular nine to five job.  
The Monday of the ninth week I was there, I was called in by the Don.  
  
"I got a job for you." He said with his accent, Italian of course. "No women no children." I replied. "Fair enough," He sighed. "There's a wiseass that's been pissing me off. I wanna fucking kill him myself but he's one of mine, you know? It sends a bad message to the rest of the fuckers that work for me." "Of course." "So what I want you to do," He paused a little. "is go to his house. Kill him in the comfort of his own home. I'll send one of my boys with you to help you out." The Don gave me the address of my target and I left. It was still early, four in the afternoon. I wandered around the office building and got lost in my thoughts. I don't remember what I thought about most of the time. They're like dreams, vivid while I'm thinking them but faded fast after they're gone. At seven I went outside, someone who was standing near the door approached me and I met my partner for the hit. His name was Marco, European and dedicated to the mob's business. He was young but not as young as me. I knew that this was his big break, if he did this right, he would be set for life. His first words to me showed me that he was arrogant, I hated him already. "Man, you're a young little fuck." Marco extended his hand. "Maybe I'll fuck you up too after we kill the faggot we supposed to hun?" I shook his hand and while doing so he slapped a beer into my left hand. He opened the beer so that the foam and air escaping hit me in the face, he laughed. When he let go, the beer fell from my hands and spilled on the floor. "Man, what the fuck?!" Marco yelled. "What the fuck is up with your left hand man?" "Injured." I said quietly. "Shit dude, so it's fucking useless?" "Pretty much." I said, "Let's go, we got work to do." Marco drove, we got there twenty minutes later. On the way there, he babbled on and on about all the crimes he's committed, and everything he's stolen. From the toys he stole as a kid to the cars he's jacked lately, he told me everything. "I've never killed before you know?" Marco was smiling. "This is gonna be a fucking new experience for me." He really did look excited, it made me sick. When we got to the house, it was a medium sized house in a calm neighborhood. Hell, I could've been your neighborhood. Marco followed me to the front door, quietly making remarks about how he hated taking orders from a kid. But to the world I was no kid, I already had the hardened look life can give you, and I was between six foot and six foot one. I was just as tall and old as everyone else. We went in the front door like it was our house, I turned around and saw that Marco had a ski mask on. I took out my gun and proceeded to the next room, it was the dinning room and it was empty. I stood in the doorway and looked into the next room. It was the den, our target was watching T.V. with his kid and his wife. The kid was around five, young. "Yeeha," Marco yelled as he ran past me. "You're gonna die you fucker." He jumped on the target and the kid screamed as the woman tried to protect him. "Don't hurt us," the woman cried. "Please don't hurt us." Marco didn't hear it, nor would he have cared if he did. After a little fighting, he sat on top of the man with his gun to the man's head. "Die you shit head." He squeezed the trigger, five things happened in that moment. Marco laughed, the man died, the kid screamed, the woman cried, and I started to turn around. But before I was fully turned, I saw Marco out of the corner of my eye. I saw what blood lust was. "Stop the fucking screaming, you're gonna die too you whore." Marco raised the gun at her. "No, don't, please. I'll do anything." She was sobbing, the boy was hiding behind her. "Suck me off, you whore." Marco laughed. "You fucking whore, right in front of your son." I was still in the doorway, I was still watching. She reluctantly began to move closer to Marco. I pulled out my gun and shot him. The gleeful look was ripped from his face as he fell to the floor, screaming like a girl, with both ands clutching his face. I shot him again, and he stopped moving. I turned and left. In the dining room I felt a gun to the back of my head, it was the woman with Marco's gun. "I saved your life, and dignity." I said quietly without turning around. "Fuck you, you killed my husband." She screamed. "He deserved to die, he was a bad man." "You too then, you're a bad man too." My mind was going crazy. I saved her life didn't I? Why does she want to kill me then, it was all Marco's fault. How did the blame end up on me? "Give me your gun." She said. I heard footsteps approach me. But something was not right, if she was close enough to hold a gun to my head, why were there footsteps? I shook that thought away. I moved my right hand behind me, I held the gun by the barrel so she wouldn't think I was going to shoot her. She reached down to take it. With enough training and adrenaline, you can slow down time, well not really. You can speed up your perception so everything seems slower. This kind of hyper perception requires a large amount of adrenaline and the ability to use it, I had both. Her right hand held the gun to my head and her left went to take the gun from my right hand. I held it low so she would have to bend down a little. When she took my gun, her head went down a little to look at my gun. That was all I needed. In that split second, I kicked her left hand, the one that held my gun with my right foot and ducked at the same time. The gun flew up and a bullet flew by the air above my head. I spun around I grabbed the gun with my right hand, but it never got there. I had forgotten one thing, the kid. That's what the footsteps were. He was hanging from my left arm and there was no way I could shake him off in time, the woman was already squeezing the trigger. My left hand shot up and grabbed the gun just right, my training again. I pulled the trigger and two shots fired at the exact same time, one bullets whizzed by my ear in the air where my head was, and the other bullet landed in the woman's right arm, her gun arm. She fell to the floor. "Stop it!" I yelled. "I'm not here to kill you." Fury was on her face, the kid was still hanging from my right arm, and my left arm lied limp at my side. She took the gun from her right hand with her left and raised it again, I started to cry as I shot her left arm. After that, I looked at her, both her arms where lifeless and there was no way she could live, I shot her again. Finally the kid let go and ran to his mom. I screamed when he started to reach for the gun. "Nooooo!" My tears were running down my face, I knew what I had to do, a shot rang out and the child lied lifeless at his mother's side. I killed a child, he was only five years old, his whole life ahead of him. I was a murderer. I ran. Chapter 12 (Joey)  
  
Polices, explosive experts, and the Special Forces all gathered around the Hotel and their security measures were almost perfect. They had only let a helicopter escape. They investigated the entire hotel inch by inch. It turned out that the bombs were blown from every room that was thought to be robbed. As a result, there were no survivors on that floor. Also there were none of the disks left to serve as evidence to the police except the one Eleven took away with him and that one was never given to them. It was thought that most people were blown to pieces to death for they found no body that remained in one piece. Only thing was that there were actually three survivors on the floor where the bomb blew up: Nine, Eleven, and the mass murderer.  
  
When Eleven finally opened the hidden file of the disk he found a message that was typed on notepad.  
  
It read:  
  
Ha! You are probably too late to save the people Blues. No worries, because I will give you more time next time. P: Long Beach Hotel 13th floor of the first tower TG: 3 minutes  
  
PS: Look for the 2nd disk next time.  
  
(NBS YLSP) (LOTB BP) (BT FPM) (TG TM)  
  
"What the heck is the Martian language way at the bottom?" Asked Twelve. "I suppose that is some code. Don't you think the fact that he called me and Nine 'Blues' more interesting? This guy must know something about our Blue Squad," muttered Eleven. "Let me check it out." With that, Ten activated the auto pilot and flopped down next to Nine's seat. "P is place for sure and I guess TG is time given." That solves the TG part of the code. So on the next mass murdering... we will be given...TM? Ten minutes I suppose," said Ten. "So all we got to do is find the disk at the next scene, open the disk, figure out the bombing time and location, and deactivate it...Right?" Twelve muttered. "No. That takes too long. This guy wants to play with us. He is making us struggle in the battle with time..." said Nine. "Well, all we can do now is go back and report to Seven. Let's see what Mr. Durden got to say about this." We landed to our secret mansion and met Mr. Durden in his office. It seemed that all the Red Squads were out. The mansion seemed quite quiet, but soon the silence was broken by Seven's gasp. "You guys are alive! Man, I was so worried! What the hell happened?" "We are going to Mr. Durden now. We'll tell you all you want to know when we get there." When we arrived, Mr. Durden was watching the TV through his 60-inch screen. Not surprisingly, he was watching the hotel-bombing article. "Well, it looks like the polices made a blunder this time. No survivors huh? Glad to see you two alive. Nevertheless, the vacation is over and more jobs awaits us. Seven, I want everybody on your squad to be ready by 7PM. You will be briefed and given a mission tonight," said Mr. Durden. "Just one moment sir, there seems to be something important my guys need to tell you." "Hmm... I will allow 5 minutes of my time. What is it that you want to tell me?" "Well sir, we think that someone or some people knows about the blue squad. You see... we found this disk when we were bombed and well... when we opened it, we found some interesting message." Eleven explained. "Let me see the disk please," said Mr. Durden. Eleven showed Mr. Durden his laptop. "This message was found in the disk sir."  
  
Ha! You are probably too late to save the people blues. No worries, because I will give you more time next time. P: Long Beach Hotel 13th floor of the first tower TG: 3 minutes  
  
PS Look for the 2nd disk next time.  
  
(NBS YLSP) (LOTB BP) (BT FPM) (TG TM)  
  
"Hmm... I wonder who this person might be... Our Red and Blue squads are only known by the members and me... All right. Tonight's mission is canceled. I want the Blue Squad to find this man or woman and bring him or her to me. It is possible that this person does not know about the Red Squad yet... Therefore, only the Red members will carry out the missions. It is not smart for you to carry out missions when you guys are being watched. I will give you 3 weeks. I do not want to see your men idling Seven. This is not a break... rather... this might actually be something very serious. Eleven, I want a copy of this disk to be brought to me in an hour. Dismissed," finished Mr. Durden. "No need sir. I already made a copy of this on our way here." Said Eleven.  
  
"Alright. I also want full report on what happened at the hotel. This includes about the murdering of Charles." At this point, both Eleven and Nine flinched. It was quite obvious that one of the Blue Squad member blabbed of the incident. On the way back to the dormitory, Seven asked Nine and Eleven about the murdering of Charles. "So, who is this guy anyway? I only know about the part where Ten helped you out. And, why did you guys get involved in the first place? I mean, how the hell were that girl and that guy able to frame you Eleven?" "Long story man. Don't ask. You can see the report later on. I will finish the report before dinner," said Eleven. "God I am sooo tired." Nine muttered and added a yawn. After they were all changed, they met again at the cafeteria. Eleven brought his laptop with him to start on the report. The cafeteria was pretty much quiet. The Red Squad was still nowhere to be seen and only the sound of knives and forks blended with the sound of typing echoed throughout the cafeteria. "Let's see... Hey Nine, do you think I should include the part where Christine and Brandon introduced themselves at the in-door beach?" "Nah... Durden would never be interested in those things. Make it short and add only the necessary parts." "Sure... Hang on, I got an E-mail." The E-mail was titled "HEY" and nothing except a period was typed in the message. However, the attachment was pretty big. When Eleven downloaded it, a clock, which Eleven recognized as the countdown he saw in the elevator, appeared. Only thing was that the timer had already reached zero. "SHIT! HEY SOMEBODY TURN ON THE TV RIGHT NOW!" Ten rushed towards the screen and turned it on. The sit-com "Friends" was on. "What? You want to watch Friends? I thought you were gonna..." "Shut up! Turn on the news NOW!" Click and a voice of a news announcer raced through out the hall. "There has been a mass murder at the Yorba Linda State Park. This is the second mass murdering that has happened today, and these crimes have something in common. They were both created by some bomb of an unknown make to kill all these people. This bomb exploded at exactly 4:10 PM this afternoon..." "That is just 30 seconds ago..." added Seven astonished. " and this time, it killed 15 children who were celebrating John Bergman's birthday party." The news continued as the woman interviewed a hysteric mother. "Hey! Let me see that Martian code again." Said Ten as he rushed towards the laptop.  
  
(NBS YLSP) (LOTB BP) (BT FPM) (TG TM) "Hey guys... I think I can make this out now..." "I think (NBS YLSP) means (next bombing site Yorba Linda State Park... Let's see... LOTB must be the "location of the bomb"... BP! It must mean birthday party. BT is probably the bombing time... FPM? I don't get this." "How about 4 PM" piped up Seven who was getting excited. "TG is time given like I said before... TM! Ten minutes! The news said that it blew up 4:10 PM. It all fits, the time 10mins were given to us after the bomb was set at 4!"  
  
"Who in this fucking hell... Hey open the notepad file again. See what it says," said Eleven, all dismayed. "Wow... This is creepy... Almost scary... I wish Thirteen was here..." whispered Nine.  
  
Chapter 13  
  
It was raining, it was dark, and my life was shit. After I killed that family, I just can't forget about it. There's not enough time in my life to make me forget, actually, I don't think there's much time left anyways. I killed an entire family, a family enjoy their time after dinner, enjoying them being together, enjoying each others love. I killed them. Why did I do it? I keep telling myself I had to, but then I wonder, why did I also kill that kid? Was I jealous that he had a family? Or was it really because I had to? Why?  
I haven't eaten in a week, I ran away after the incident, I live in the streets now. Just another bum too lazy or stupid to get a job. I killed one of the mafia's men, they'll be after me. They'll want to kill me, they'll want to see me suffer. But I'm already suffering, I was cold, hungry and wet. I didn't care, this is just penance for what I did. This is my just reward, my punishment, my cleansing, my life. No money left, no other clothes, no shelter, I'm going to die soon. The only thing that I regret was that I never said sorry to Julie. I hope she's ok. I lie here in an alley, thinking my last thoughts. I thought about when she was warm and tender, and I held my arms around her. All there was, was her love and affection, but now she's only something that's part of my past. I'm dying, I'm being released from all my pain. I blacked out.  
  
"I found him, over here."  
"Nice work, he seems to be dead."  
"Heh heh, let's make sure of it."  
"Of course."  
  
I woke up to a sharp pain to my chest, I looked up after my eyes cleared. I saw there were two men, and I recognized them from 'work'.  
"So, you're still alive hun?" one of them said, in the faint light of the lamp post at the entrance of the alley, I saw that it was Rob.  
I felt another blow, to my chest again. The breath was knocked out of me, I tried to stand but I fell to my knees. The other guy kicked me in the face, I fell back against the wall. My face all bloody from my nose and I laughed. I was laughing at just the thought of being alive, I was laughing at my life. I let them keep beating on me, I was slowly sinking into death, I could actually feel myself dying a little at a time. By now, my mouth was bleeding, I could barely open my left eye. Once more Rob kicked me in the chest, I wondered why he kept kicking my chest, but that thought was ripped away from me as I threw up blood in a violent burst. That's when it happened.  
To be more specific, that's when she came. I didn't know who she was or why she chose to help me, but she ran between me and my assaulters. "Leave him alone." She said, arms stretched out to protect me. I sat there still able to see with my right eye, I saw the two men flinch back.  
"I'll call the cops, well actually, I am one." She still stood there, arms out.  
"Fine, we're done with him anyways." Rob said, he turned and left. The other one left too.  
They were complaining about their soaked clothes as they walked into the street. The rain had washed away some of my blood and I was sitting in a red puddle, it looked black in the night. The woman turned around and I laughed again. This time at Rob's stupidity.  
"You're not a cop, you're barely older than I am." I coughed up blood as I laughed some more.  
"I know, but they don't seem to know. And stop laughing, you're gonna lose more blood if you do." She knelt by my side and took out a handkerchief. She began wiping my face with it, her hands moved swiftly to get all my blood and her touch was gentle.  
"Why are you helping me? I don't want your help." I said when the handkerchief wasn't on my mouth.  
"Don't talk, I'm gonna get you to a hospital. Can you stand up?" She put the handkerchief into my hand and tried to help me up.  
"Answer my question." I sat there refusing her help.  
"Fine, I don't want you to die."  
"Why? You don't even know me."  
"I know but it doesn't matter, you're still a person, and I have to help."  
"Are murderers people? Do they deserve to be helped?" I started to get up.  
"What are you talking about?" she put my arm around her so she could support me.  
I stayed quiet until I was in her car. "Be my savior, and I'll be your downfall."  
"Hun?" she turned to look at me.  
I stopped talking and I guess she finally gave up on waiting so she told me a little about herself as she drove me to the hospital. I only caught half of it because I fainted. Before I was completely lost, I wondered how much blood I was gonna leave in her car, I wondered how much it would cost her to get it cleaned.  
  
I dreamed again. I dreamed of Julie, I was talking to her. "I wonder what you think of me. If I could go back would you ever have been with me? I want to remember, I want you to believe in me. I want you on my side." She said nothing and slowly faded away. I suddenly snapped awake screaming.  
"NO! Stay with me, please! I'm sorry for what I did!" Then I realized where I was, a hospital room. I looked around, I had needles in me and one of them tore a gash when I sat up suddenly. I took the rest out and let my gash bleed. I lied back down and was about to fall asleep hoping that I bled to death when I felt someone bandaging up my shoulder.  
It was her again. "Why are you still here?" I asked while I sat up.  
"What were you dreaming about? Who's this person and what did you do?" She completely ignored my question.  
I fell silent, I thought about my dream, and I thought about what it meant. Julie's not with me anymore, she's lost to me. I lost everything that I had to live for. Lost my belief that life was something that can't be taken from me, for my job. Lost my sense of rightness, for wanting to live longer. Lost my life, for...nothing. I ended up with nothing, after I risked my ass so many times. I got nothing.  
"What are you thinking about now?" She asked, she was done bandaging my shoulder.  
"Do you ever shut up?" I pulled my arm away from her and looked at the bandage.  
"Why are you so mean? I helped you didn't I?" She sounded hurt, and I felt guilty again.  
"Sorry." I swore at that moment to never have to say sorry again.  
"It's ok." She laughed. "So...how's life for you?"  
I looked at her, she was beautiful, and I was speechless. My life? I don't know anymore. "Ok I guess. You?"  
"I'm fine too, and I made a new friend today." She smiled at me.  
"I'm not much of a friend."  
"Who said it was you?" She still had that smile, that smile that told me that it really was me.  
I smiled back. I lost my energy at that moment, I was too close to death to be able to be awake for long periods of time. I fell forward, she was sitting at my right side, she held me up but couldn't move me into a sleeping position. So she got onto the bed and let me lean on her shoulder, and I fell asleep as she whispered a question.  
"Who are you?"  
  
Chapter 14  
  
I hate it when things happen while I'm sleeping, but lately, that's the only time when things do happen. I was dreaming again, I forgot of what, the door crashed open and I saw two figures in the dark when I opened my eyes. The girl woke up too, she had been sleeping against me, my right arm was around her shoulders. I was barely alive, and there was no way I could defend myself let alone the both of us.  
"Who are you guys?" The girl asked, she got up from the bed and walked towards the door.  
One of them hit her across the face and put a piece of cloth into her mouth to stop her screams. She was being hurt because of me, everything was happening because of me. I was helpless, I couldn't do anything to help her or myself. The two dragged us into their car and we drove away.  
"See? This is what I was talking about." I quietly whispered.  
She couldn't say anything because of the gag in her mouth. I couldn't read her eyes either because I haven't known her for very long. I knew the ride was going to be a long one, we were in the back of a van, there was a bulletproof metal wall between us and the drivers. There was dim light coming in through the windows on the back doors, I saw her face and I knew she was scared. I tried to think of something to make her relax and I decided to just talk. About nothing in particular, just talk as if we were long time friends spending an afternoon together.  
"You know, I'm a lucky guy. The first time I met a girl, about three minutes after learning her name I got her into a bed with me. By the way, her name is Julie." I laughed a little as I thought about the jump I did with Julie. "But this time, I got you and I still don't know your name."  
I saw a smile in her eyes, she stopped shaking and I knew it was working. "I'm Kyle, Kyle Thatcher. What's your name?" I took the gag out of her mouth, it exhausted me to do even something as small as that.  
"Christy. Were you dreaming about Julie last night?" She totally surprised me. She saw my shock and laughed lightly. "I may be blonde but I'm far from stupid."  
"Yeah..." I got lost in my thoughts again. "I really missed her, I can't get over the fact that I left her. I thought I was going to go back in a year, but now...I'm not so sure."  
"Is she your girlfriend?"  
I chuckled to myself, "Could've been." I sighed, too many regrets. "I could've done better, but then again, things just didn't work out like we wanted."  
"What happened?" She was starting to forget where we were. Even though it hurt for me to talk about these things, I knew that I had to. I had to help her forget where we were and what was happening, even if it's only for a short while.  
"Let's call it a job transfer."  
"You have a job?" She said with a little wonder. "All the other guys I meet are slackers who think the word work is made up."  
"It's not what you think, and as for me as a guy, I'm just different." I wondered what she'd say if she knew what my 'job' was. Would she freak out? Only time will tell.  
"Well, at least you have one right?"  
"If you say so." That's when the conversation dried up. I guess it was partly my fault, or maybe it was all my fault. She looked around and started to look scared again.  
"Where are we being taken to?" She asked.  
"No idea."  
"Why are people after you?"  
"No idea."  
"Who are they, and you better not say no idea."  
"Ionno."  
"What DO you know?" I saw that she was beginning to get angry at me so I decided it would be best If I told her a few things.  
"They're part of the Boston mob. I think they're taking us to a cell where they temporarily store people before they kill them. They're after me because I killed one of them."  
"What's this 'job' of yours?" I knew that question was coming. She looked my right in the eyes, and I knew I couldn't lie to her.  
"I..." I sighed again. "I worked for them."  
"What?" She freaked out. But she regained sanity incredibly fast for a girl. "Just my luck, I finally meet a guy I like who has a job, and it turns out he works for the mob."  
"You like me?" Now it was my turn to be freaked out.  
"Well, like you said. I did sleep with you, but only literally."  
We both started laughing, and that's when the van stopped. Shortly after, the two men opened the door, and I recognized Rob once again. He reached in and dragged Christy out. She made a fist and punched Rob right in the face, and I laughed. I couldn't help it, I was starting to really like her. But what happened after really pissed me off. Rob slapped her and spat in her face.  
"Hey Rob, I'm going to kill you for that. One of these days, I promise you." I said from my seat, I was too weak to get up and I was too tired from talking. Rob roughly grabbed my shirt and dragged me out of the van.  
"Oh yeah? I think I'm going to beat your face in if you don't shut the fuck up."  
"If you say so." I smiled, I knew I was going to enjoy killing him.  
They took us to a cell just like I said they would and they left us soon after they locked the door.  
  
"So...how you doing?" I tried to start a conversation.  
"What is it exactly that you do?" She got right to the point like she always does. I was used to it by now.  
"Well...I...um...kill." I said slowly. "I...do other things too, but I mostly kill people."  
"I thought so, well, I almost had the perfect guy."  
"Heh, I'm far from perfect." I said with a smile. She was an interesting girl, not shy at all. She was always looking for the bright side of things, she was just what I needed right now.  
"That's ok. I don't know why but even though I've only known you for about a day, I really like you." She sat leaning against the right wall, and I sat opposite of her, leaning against the left.  
"Me too, maybe its just fate, or maybe it's just we were meant for each other?" I laughed at that thought, I knew it was a lie.  
"Yeah, maybe." She knew that was a lie too. "So how do we get out of here?"  
"Not now, we wait until I heal. Unless, you can break us out and kill the guards."  
"We'll wait." She got up and walked over to the bed. "I'm a girl, therefore I get the bed."  
"Of course," I smiled. "You are a delicate flower blossom and you need the best life can offer."  
  
I woke up after a few hours. My back was sore from sleeping on the hard floor, but I didn't mind. I didn't want Christy to suffer anymore than she has to, I was the one who got her into this, I'll be the one to get her out, regardless of anything. She was still asleep, I saw that she was shivering, it was a little cold. I took off my sweater and covered her with it. I had recovered some of my strength, but I needed something to eat. Maybe later they'll feed us, I thought. I lied down beside the left wall and tried to come up with a plan to get us out. I must do this, I have to do this, I need to do this. This is my life and I will be the ONLY one who suffers from it. I fell asleep feeling cold.  
  
Chapter 15  
  
I snapped awake. I always do, it's just the way I wake up, no particular reason for it. I looked around and saw that it was afternoon, I guess we had a long night. So it's normal that we'd sleep till now. Christy was still asleep, and I didn't want to wake her up yet. I sat there thinking about what to do, a sort of plan formed in my head. I was still fine tuning it when I heard foot steps, then a voice.  
"Lunch time shit heads." The voice left us two food plates that he pushed through the bars. "For some reason, the boss wants you alive, heh heh, maybe he wants to personally kill you to set an example. Bon appetite"  
The food on the plate was barely enough for each of us, I took some of the food on mine and I put it on the other one. I quickly ate what was left of mine and felt the waves of warmth slowly fill my stomach. I knew it was not enough but I'd live. At least long enough to get us out of this. One of us will get out, and I didn't plan on being the one.  
"Hey," I whispered near Christy's ear. "Time to eat, you must be hungry."  
"Hun?" She woke slowly. "Lunch? Yeah I'm hungry."  
She got up and gave my sweater back to me with a smile, "Thanks." She picked up her tray and she started eating. "Wow, they gave us a lot of food, I thought they would only give us enough to keep us alive."  
"Well, I guess they want to fatten us so they can eat us." I joked.  
"Haha, maybe. So...you got a plan yet?"  
"Yeah..." I thought about it, it would be the last plan I make and it would be the last thing I do. But I was ok with it, anything to get her out. This is my life, and it'll end the way I want it to.  
"So what do I do?" She said between bites.  
"Nothing." I said quietly still trying to remember if I had any unfinished business besides Julie of course. "This is my job, and mine only."  
"You sure?" Christy asked. "You never know when you'd be in a situation where you'll need me to save your ass."  
I laughed, "That's not something I'm worried about."  
"Why not? Are you so good that that'll never happen to you."  
"No, I won't need to be bailed out if that happens." I was saying too much already. "But it'll never happen you know? I'm the best."  
"We'll see." She said.  
I reached into my sweater and took out my set of lockpicks, it's amazing that my captors didn't take my stuff. I still have all my basic equipment, lockpicks, fiber wire, and a small combat knife.  
"Hey," Christy said quietly. "Don't do anything dangerous because of me ok?"  
"Why not? I'm willing to do anything for the people I care about, so what's the problem?" I knew I should leave now, this conversation was going places I didn't want to be.  
"Yeah but what's the point of being nice to the people you care about when you don't care about yourself. You're so miserable that you're making them feel bad too."  
"Let's say that you had no idea about the way I am, because I can pretend to be however I want to be. You wouldn't know so you'd be clueless and happy, would you prefer that?" It was too late to back out of this now, it's time to see this through. Can't avoid these questions forever.  
"Yes, if you pretend you'll eventually see that you're becoming whatever you're trying to imitate, eventually you'll be happy. I'd really like to see you like that some day." Her voice was quiet but clear, it was the voice I couldn't ignore, the things she said went straight to my brain, and to my heart.  
I sighed, this was my chance to change my ways, my chance to be happy again, my chance to get out the path of the bullet. This, this...was my chance for a new life. I looked at her and smiled, a little sadly but I was getting there. "Ok, I...promise I'll...try to be careful. I'll try to live through this"  
She smiled. Christy walked close me and kissed me on the cheek, then she whispered into my ear. "There'll be more of that if you live."  
This time my smile was better, I turned around and started to work on the lock silently. Within a few seconds I had it cracked, and I opened the door. "Stay here if you want," I said. "If the guards come here, then I'm sorry. But if you come with me, I won't be able to protect both of us, and you know I'd try to save you even at the cost of my life. Your choice."  
"Not much of one there you know? Stay here be killed, go with you, and you get killed." But she had a knowing smile on her face, I knew something was up. I'd have to be extra careful. "Guess I'm staying then. Have fun."  
Before I left the cell I spoke quietly, I don't know who it was for, maybe for me, maybe for her. "Wo yuan yi wei ni, shen me do yuan yi. Duei bu qi." I left her wondering what I said, in my mind those words burned, what went on inside the cell with her was nice, but I still had a job to do, a job that I promised myself I'd complete. Duei bu qi.  
I closed the door and stepped into the hall way. The layout was fairly simple, I had been here before and knew my way around. There was a door leading up, up to the ground floor where there is a narrow hallway passing by a small office. The office glass is bullet proof and there is no way to get into the office for me. My plan was also fairly simple, which meant, dangerous.  
I took out my combat knife and put it into my right sleeve. I took out my fiber wire and tucked it into my left sleeve, I kept one of the handles in my left hand hidden by the fist I made. Now that the preparations were done, I walked out. I walked past the office and the two guards inside immediately picked up their guns and started to shoot through the glass. The glass would hold the bullets for a while, but only a short while. There was no one around the area so I wasn't concerned about the gunshots being heard. I stood in front of the window, ready once the glass broke. The guards had rifles, shitty ones at that, they were the old style ones with a one bullet chamber. But they were like that for a reason, they were powerful. The guns were basically a sniper rifle with out the scope. The glass was almost shattered, the end would come soon, all my senses were completely in overdrive, everything slowed down a little for me. I saw everything, the glass was cracking everywhere, the spider web pattern of cracks grew and grew.  
Then a bullet pierced the glass. It was time, but something was off, something was not quite right. The bullet came at me, dead on target, I needed to move NOW but something was wrong. I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye, it was Christy, suddenly I lost my concentration. Everything rushed forward. The bullet that was slowly reaching me was now barreling towards me, I didn't have time to do anything. But I promised Christy, and I was planning to keep that promise. The promise that I'd try. I shifted my weight to the left and tried to move out of the way, the moment I had enough of my weight on my left leg, I jumped through the glass. The bullet that was aimed for my chest struck my left leg and I felt the white heat once again. The same thing as the time I was shot in the shoulder. I saw the opportunity, I saw my way out. Mine and Christy's. The guards were positioned perfectly, luck was on my side. My senses 'hypered' up again.  
The glass shattered from my force, the shards flew in all directions, and Christy's scream was dying out. The guards were surprised, I was in luck once again. As I passed through the glass, I turned around so that my back was to the floor. I was pretty much horizontal, moving backwards head first. My right hand slipped the knife out and my left hand whipped out the wire around the left guard's neck, I caught the other end of the wire with my left hand, and I hooked my right arm around the right guard's neck. A piece of glass sliced my cheek open where Christy had kissed it earlier and I lost my concentration again.  
I fell to the floor in the chaos, the glass sprinkled down to the floor, shots ran off from the guns of the guards as their fingers reflexively squeezed. The bullets imbedded themselves in the ceiling and the plaster rained down on us. I landed on the glass, several gashes were torn open, my knife cut through the guards throat and he died choking for air, the other guard was being strangled by my wire, I stayed there on the floor hold him down, finishing the job of killing him. After a few more moments of struggle, his body relaxed and I knew he was dead.  
Christy ran up to the window, or what was left of it. She saw me lying on the floor and she immediately started to break of the rest of the glass around the edges with her palm. I saw a few thin red lines appear in her hand, the glass was cutting her, I watched as she kept at it. By the time the window was clear of the glass, her right hand was a bloody mess, but she didn't stall. She jumped in and tried to pick me up, I knew she couldn't do that alone so I tried to stand up, with our combined efforts I got to my feet. My left leg was totally lost to me for now, or maybe forever. I had my left arm around her shoulders for support and we walked to the window, I leaned against the wall while she went back over, then she helped me through the window.  
I brushed of the glass shards on my back with my right hand, on two occasions I had to pulled them out. I was in bad shape. I still haven't recovered from the beating Rob gave me when I first met Christy, I haven't eaten much, just a little bit earlier on. And now I was losing massive amounts of blood, from my back and my leg. I was ready to die, I had fulfilled my promise, my job here was done.  
"Duei bu qi, I have to go now, I kept my promise. Now I have to go." I whispered. My left leg crumpled and I fell to one knee, I felt a flash of pain as my left knee hit the ground. I fell into Christy and she caught me. My weight caused her to sit down.  
"No! You can't go. You still have a job here, your not done yet!" She cried.  
"I'm sorry, I have to go. I have no more jobs except to die." I felt myself slipping away.  
"You're wrong, you DO have a job left. It's to be with me, you can't just leave me here, I...I..." Her tears fell on my face, I smiled, this time I was truly happy.  
"It's ok, I'm just going somewhere, I'll be happy there finally. You said you wanted to see me happy, here I am." I closed my eyes and let the darkness enclose me.  
"No...please...don't do this to me...I...love you." She held me but I couldn't feel it anymore. The last thing I heard was someone's voice.  
"How cute. Don't worry little girl, he'll live. It's not his time to die, and he won't die till I say so."  
  
Chapter 16  
  
I hated the way I was right now, I was always vaguely alive. I was always between life and death. Just hanging there, wanting to make a decision, but the decision was not mine to make. Maybe it was God's decision, I wouldn't be surprised if it was. You ask me what I would choose? Death, I want to die. Living has become torture for me, I can't forget what I did to that family, in my waking moments I'm fine, but lately, there's been too much time when I'm dreaming.  
This time I was seeing my own face on the people I killed, I was happily pulling the trigger. I shot myself again and again, until I was out of bullets, even then I kept pulling the trigger, I was hysterical, I had lost my human qualities. I attacked myself like an animal, kicking and biting. It was safe to say that I hated myself. I felt someone grab my hand and I fought to free it again, so I can continue the slaughtering of myself. But the grip was to strong, I was held in place and I saw myself walk away into the shadows, before I left however, I whispered.  
"Tomorrow, I'll BE you, tomorrow, I'll kill again as you. I will always be here, there will ALWAYS be a need for you to kill. Tomorrow."  
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I tried to free my hand again and this time I woke up screaming instead. I looked up and saw Christy, but she wasn't the one holding my wrist.  
"Quiet my son, calm your self, you are in a house of God, those words should not be used." It was a priest, I don't remember how I go there or why I'm here but if Christy's here then this is where I wanted to be.  
"Where is this place?" I asked instinctively.  
"A church, you were brought here by an old acquaintance of mine. I didn't think you were going to make it but God saw fit that you shall live. So live my son, and live well."  
"I can't, I'm sorry but I don't believe that God wants me alive. I've never been a Christian."  
"Perhaps, this is the time for you start? It's no coincidence that you wound up here." The priest let go of my wrist and I sat up on the bed. I looked at Christy and I saw she had a look of relief on her face.  
"Perhaps you're right, I have done some...things in my life. Perhaps God can show me the way. Should I start by telling you?"  
"No, my son. We have a saying in Sicily. I don't know anything, I wasn't told anything, I wasn't there, and if I was there, I was sleeping. This isn't the best place to talk, come to the confession at noon, we'll talk then." The priest left the room and it was just me and Christy.  
"I thought you were gonna die, I was so scared that I would've been the reason. Not that I would feel good if you die even if it wasn't my fault." Christ's words spilled out of her in a flood and I could barely catch what she was saying.  
"Well I'm fine now, don't worry. I'll live a while longer." I said with a smile.  
"That's what I'm worried about, how long is a while?"  
"Long enough" I got out of bed and put my shirt on, then my jeans.  
Without any more conversation, Christy and I went down to the main part of the church. It was close to noon, just five more minutes. I left Christy at the entrance of the confession box, and I went in.  
  
"Forgive me father for I have sinned." I began the mantra.  
"How long since your last confession?" A voice on the other side asked.  
"Never." I replied.  
"What are you here to say?"  
"I have trouble living with myself, after the things I have done."  
"Many of us have done things we regret, but we must look past our mistakes and move on."  
"I have...killed." I said hesitantly.  
"I knew a young man like you once, he was also troubled by the things he did. He killed twelve people, under extreme circumstances. He explained that he was taking a test of some sort, and he had no choice but to do what he was asked."  
"I see..." Something clicked inside my brain, something important.  
"He confided in me because he wanted to understand if what he did was wrong."  
"What did you tell him?" I was anxious to know what the priest thought of him, because we are the same.  
"I said..." The priest sighed. "Killing in it self is not wrong, animals kill other animals for food, it's part of life. But when the killing is done out of hate, out of vengeance then it is wrong. Duty also prompts us to kill, it is the job of the hunters to bring food for a village, likewise it is the job of God to kill evil men. But God doesn't work through his own hands, he uses all of us as tools. The law of God is above the law of men, God's will is done."  
"I don't feel that I was on a mission for God." I said after contemplating the things the priest told me. "I feel...I did it out of duty for another man. Is that wrong?"  
"No, my son. God was working through that man, to prompt you to kill, remember, God can work through anything."  
"I see." I sighed, my questions weren't answered, I was left with the history of someone else. "That's all I have to say, I think I'm well enough to leave this place."  
"Very well, you and the girl are guests in my church, guests are free to come and go as they please."  
"Thank you for everything." I said softly, I'm not sure if he heard me or not. I left the confession box and found Christy sitting outside on one of the pews. She stood up when she saw me.  
"So, where to now?" She asked  
"Home," I kept walking and Christy kept following. "Where's the airport?"  
"Um...I think it's that way." Christy pointed to the left of us. "It's pretty far though."  
"You up for a walk?" I went where she pointed and followed the road out away from the church.  
"Sure...I guess." WE walked in silence for a long time, maybe an hour, maybe two. Time was distorted for me. Christy finally broke the silence with one of her questions. "So where exactly is home? Do you have money for a plane ticket?"  
I ignored this first question, I answered the second one by taking out my wallet. I had some hundred bills left, actually I had more than enough for a one way trip for two.  
"Where did you get all that money?"  
"Home." I said quietly, I saw the airport in the distance, my legs were exhausted from all that walking, we left at noon, and now the sun was setting.  
  
When the plane took off, Christy was already asleep on my shoulder in the seat beside me. I looked out the window, I had the window seat. The sunset was beautiful, the shades of colors were amazing, everything was red orange or violet or some brilliant color in between. I wanted to share this with someone and I thought of Julie. Then I looked at Christy, and thought. I thought for a long time about the way my life was going, the people I know and the relationships I had. The sun was almost down.  
"Christy, look at that, isn't it beautiful?" I woke Christy up gently and point out my window.  
"Wow, you're right, but you should've woken me earlier, it's almost gone." She looked a while longer, then went back to sleep. She leaned on my shoulder and like the night I met her, I put my arms around her. I stayed awake that night, I had too much on my mind. Through the sound of Christy's light breathing I could here the sound of the planes engines. The repetitive drone put me into a semi haze, I was seeing things again, I might've been dreaming.  
There was nothing this time, maybe I had come to terms with myself, or maybe not. Late into the night, a flight attendant waked by.  
"Do you need anything sir? For you or the lady?"  
"Yeah, can you get her a blanket, and I'll have a cup of coffee." I smiled at her and said thanks as she went off to fetch the things I had asked for.  
A few hours later, it was still dark out, but I felt it was a few hours. I was listening to music. I had my mp3 player with me in my pocket. It's amazing how no one robbed me. I had the money all along, I just didn't feel like using it, and then I forgot until recently. I had, in a sense, wandered the streets cold and hungry because I had wanted to.  
"...Don't touch my loneliness, Sabishikute ii. Pain nureta mado shizuku nazoru yo, Sakki tsukutta Milk mo sameta ha...Time goes by..."  
The flight attendant came again. "We're almost here, I hope you enjoyed the flight."  
  
On the ground, I saw the familiar sights. I led Christy to a pay phone. "Wait while I make a call."  
"Of course, what else would I do?" She said, she was back to her usual self.  
I put a quarter in and dialed a number. After three rings, someone's voices crackled into the receiver. "Ten here."  
"Hey man, can you pick me up?"  
"KYLE?!!!!!" Ten's voice suddenly because very loud, I held the receiver away from my ears.  
"Yeah, I'm at the airport, see you soon ok?"  
"On my way, oh yeah by the way, what kinda car do you want to ride in?" I could hear the smile in his voice.  
"How bout that sports car I gave you?"  
"Um..." Ten hesitated. "Julie's using that right now, I think she went out. I can call her and have her pick you up."  
"No, that's alright. Just any car then, just come soon."  
"Well I'm gonna call Julie anyways, I think she'll be happy to know you're back."  
"If you say so," I hung up.  
  
When Ten came, we rode in his car in silence. I didn't feel like talking, Christy was quiet because I wasn't talking, and Ten was trying to figure out who Christy was. When we arrived at the mansion, Ten turned around. We were both in the back seat so Ten had to turn.  
"What do you think this is going to do to Julie?" Ten asked, I sensed a little anger but I knew Ten understood.  
"I don't know."  
We found out pretty fast, Julie was waiting for us at the entrance. When I got out, she walked up to me and punched me in the face. I fell to the ground, my legs were too weak right now to support me. I felt blood from my nose flow down t o my mouth. When Christy got out, Julie's eyes opened wide in surprise and she left.  
"You ok?" Christy started to wipe the blood off my face with her sleeve.  
I pushed her hand away, "I'll be fine," I got up and followed Julie. I knew she would probably be in her room. Ten was right behind me.  
"So..." Ten said quietly, "I guess she doesn't like you very much right now."  
"That's ok" I knocked on the door.  
"Go away," Julie said from inside.  
I looked at Ten expectantly, "I think she means you buddy." I said with a smile. "Go take Christy to my room, and give her some food."  
Ten sighed and left shaking his head. I picked Julie's lock and went in.  
  
"Hey," I said as I turned the lights on. I saw Julie crying on her bed, I felt guilt shoot through me, and I knew I had done something wrong.  
"Turn the lights off," She said between sobs.  
I did what she asked and sat down on her bed beside her. "I'm sorry." Inside my head, I remembered how I promised myself I would never do anything for which I'd have to apologize for.  
"That supposed to mean something? Do you think a simple, I'm sorry, will fix everything?" She sat up on her bed and looked me in the eyes, they were fiery, I saw the anger.  
"No"  
"Then what? What are you going to say now? I'd like to hear your explanation."  
"I met her when I was going through a bad time. She helped me and then wound up in trouble along with me. I had to help her, and she can't go back to Boston because there are people after me. They would take her hostage to get to me."  
"That doesn't make it better."  
"I know." I said again.  
"If you know everything, then tell me why did you leave me?!"  
"I had a job, from Durden."  
"Why didn't you tell me? I thought I would never see you again."  
I clenched my fists, my short nails dug into my skin and I started bleeding a little. "I'm sorry" I wasn't angry at her, I was angry at myself. I had made too many mistakes with Julie, I'll never be able to make it up to her.  
"Is that all you can say?"  
"Yes" Both my palms were slowly being filled with my blood. "I'm sorry"  
This time, when I said it, I saw her eyes go soft, the anger left. "Alright, I'll forgive you." I knew she didn't want to. I didn't expect her to, but she did.  
  
I was woken the next morning by Ten, I guess it had become tradition for me to never get enough sleep here at the mansion.  
"Come down to the caf, the other guys wants to see you." With that Ten left.  
I dressed and woke Christy up, "Wanna meet my friends?"  
She slowly came out of her sleep and blinked a few times. She was still wearing her day clothes, when I came back to my room last night, she was already asleep on my bed. I took the floor again.  
"Sure...I hope they're nicer than that girl, was that Julie?"  
"She has her reasons, and yes that was Julie." We went down together and when we arrived everyone looked at us. Then the, "Welcome back" phrase was said all around the room. No one paid much attention to us in the red squad, the blue squad however were all dying to ask me questions.  
After I answered everything I wanted to answer, the guys all quieted down, it was back to normal life for them, I understood the feeling. When you're in Elite you don't have much time to be just chatting, there's always business to be done.  
"Hey," Ten said suddenly, "I propose a toast."  
"Yeah," Julie followed, "To Kyle's return."  
I looked around and I saw everyone nodding in agreement. "Ok," I said, "but we do this my way."  
Someone got us a few cups, I had them filled up with scotch. I handed a glass to Ten, and another one to Julie. Everyone else didn't want to drink so they didn't toast with us, but that was ok, I wanted it like that.  
"Stand in a circle, when we start, we spill our drinks on the ground, then we clink glasses in the middle, then we drink all of it in one gulp. At the end we hold our glasses upside down together." I moved over to a clear patch of floor so we wouldn't spill it on anyone.  
"Hey, I want to do this too." Christy said.  
I walked over to Christy and whispered into her ear. She nodded her head and I went on with my toast.  
With everyone's eyes on us, with Christy sitting and watching too, we started. Time was slow for that moment, we each spilled our drinks, first from left to right, then back, our arms moved in unison. The motion was smooth and majestic, our faces were all blank. We raised our glasses, now half empty, and clinked them in the middle of our circle. The scotch we spilled puddle at our feet. Then we all slowly, again in unison, lifted our glasses to our mouths. We drank, we drank all of it, a few drops spilled out of the corner of my mouth, it ran down my chin but I didn't pay it mind. The most important thing in the world right now was to finish my drink. It was vital that I do that. Soon my drink was half gone. Everyone watched the phenomenon Julie, Ten and I. We were standing in a circle and all our heads were tilted back, elbows in the air, and a glass to our mouths. We all drank and we all had scotch running down our necks. We started in unison and we finished it in unison, we turned our glasses upside down and held it in the air in front of us, but high enough so that it was above our heads. We stood there like that, the three of us, for ages. Our heads were down and our eyes were all closed. The people watching knew something had happened.  
Finally, we opened our eyes at the same time and we wiped our mouths at the same time. We were in tune with each other for everything we did. Then the moment snapped, I could here the distant conversations of the red squad again, I could see the other people again, I was back in reality. The three of us looked at each other, we knew something happened. The other two weren't sure, but I knew what the toast means, it was one of the things I had learned before I came to Elite, I learned it from my Dad. It was one of the few things he ever taught me, and it was the most important thing anyone could ever teach me. It was the most important thing to me in this world.  
  
Chapter 17  
  
"What's been happening to you?" Julie asked. We were in her room again, this time on better terms. After lunch she invited me to talk with her alone.  
"You know, just stuff. Same shit different day right?"  
"That's just like you, thinking that everything that happens to you is a little thing. Maybe you should really think about it. It seems to me you're still recovering from a wound." Julie knew me too well, and I've only been with her for a relatively short time. I can't believe how insightful she was.  
"Well, it's nothing, just a minor scratch." I couldn't look her in the eye when I said that, I didn't want to lie, but I didn't want her to worry either.  
"What ever, well anyways," She started. "What was that toast about? Does it have any meaning?"  
"Yeah..."  
"So? What is it?" She was very curious now, I knew she wouldn't let up till I told her.  
"It's a toast to brotherhood." I said softly.  
She sat down on her bed and thought for a few seconds, I'm not sure if she was happy or not. "Well, I guess being your sister is the next best thing to being your girlfriend."  
I was surprised at what she said, I was out of words. So I just stood there, with my head down, I didn't really want this to happen, but I guess it did, so I have to deal with it. "Well, it wouldn't be too bad."  
"Yeah, I guess..." She was still thinking, her eyes were unfocused and starring into space. "You DO need someone to take care of you, doesn't look like you could survive on your own, so the job is mine."  
"If you say so." I still couldn't make eye contact with her, I'm not sure why, it's not like I was ashamed or anything. Maybe I thought it was an unfair thing to force Julie into. I didn't let Christy do the toast for the same reason Julie was sad about now.  
"Well, at least I'll be spending more time with you now that I'm your sister."  
"If you say so." Right after I said that, someone knocked on her door, I hoped to God it wasn't Christy. But, I guess God doesn't like me very much. Recently I came up with this theory. God made a toilet, he called it Earth, then he made targets to piss on because its more fun that way, he called the targets Humans. Then he finally chose who would be worth the most if he hit that person, and guess what he called that person? He called me Kyle, I'm worth one hundred points, and so far God has been extremely accurate and he has over three million points.  
"Hey Kyle, Mr. Durden said he wanted to see you, Ten told me to come and get you." Christy said when Julie opened the door.  
I smiled at Christy, then at Julie, "Duty calls." I left and went with Christy, outside Durden's office, Christy left and I went in.  
"Welcome back Thirteen, I heard the mission didn't go so well."  
"Yes."  
"I don't like failures."  
"I know."  
"But...I am willing to let it go this time, because I have some other problems I need you to deal with."  
"Such as...?" I was listening closely now.  
"There has been someone who has bombed several sites, I need you to figure out who it is and stop him before any of my subordinates gets harmed, because apparently the bomber is doing it to attract my attention. It has been noticed that the bomber's target is ultimately the blue squad and most likely, you."  
"Understood."  
"Go do your job. Pick your own team, and I'll see you in two days, with success."  
  
"So, what was that about?" Christy asked in my room. "Another mission? You gonna leave again? Can I come? You know what, I don't have to ask, I'm coming."  
I sighed, why do the girls in my life know me so well? "Yeah, I gotta do something. I don't think it'd be safe if you came, but I guess I won't be able to force you to stay here."  
"That's right, so when do we leave?"  
"Now, I have two days to finish the job."  
"What's the job?" Christy grabbed my hand as I turned to leave, "You can't leave till you tell me what you have to do."  
"I..." I sighed again. I decided to go with the old American phrase. "I am not at liberty to discuss that."  
"You know, I can punch much harder than Julie," Christy made a fist.  
"Not hard enough," I shook her hand off and left.  
Outside my room, Ten and Julie were already waiting for me. I looked at them then left wordlessly. Too many people were getting involved in my life, they shouldn't have to suffer for what I have done.  
"Why are you coming with me?" I asked when they followed me.  
"You'd get killed on your own," Julie said from behind me.  
"That's my problem."  
"Not anymore, nothing is just your problem now, we're family remember?"  
"Yeah, I gotta take care of my little bro or else I'd have a bad name you know? I'd be the guy who couldn't help his brother." Ten said.  
"Fine." I got to a phone and dialed a number, the priest left me his number before I left, I had a feeling his acquaintance had something to do with all of this.  
"Hello?" I heard the familiar even voice of the priest.  
"It's me, your guest. Where can I find your acquaintance?" I got straight to the point.  
"I don't know, you don't find him, he finds you." The calm voice wavered a little. "He stopped by a little while ago, he asked me about you, I didn't tell him anything important, but I won't tell you anything about him either. I'm sure he'll find you soon."  
The receiver clicked as the priest hung up. I got into Ten's sports car and saw that the keys were already in the ignition. The other three quickly hopped into the car, Christy sat beside me.  
"Where we going?" Christy asked.  
"Away from here." I started the car and drove out of the driveway. "You guys shouldn't be doing this. This is my job and mine alone."  
Julie let out an exasperated sigh. "Just because you don't care about yourself, doesn't mean no one else does. We're always going to be here for you, so deal with it."  
I drove for a while and then stopped at a hotel, "We're staying here tonight, separate rooms. I sleep alone, it's too dangerous with me."  
"I'm not going to let you be alone." Julie said at the registration desk, then she turned to the clerk. "We'll take two rooms, opposite each other on the first floor."  
"Enjoy your stay, and here are the keys. Rooms one-o-four and one- twelve to your left." The clerk handed the keys to Julie.  
At the door of our rooms, Julie gave me the key for one-o-four. "You're with Christy, I'm gonna be with Ten."  
I nodded, and took the keys. I never liked using keys, it's just weird for me, so I put them in Christy's hands, and picked the lock to our room. Christy laughed and shook her head as we went in.  
"You just can't be normal for once hun?" Christy followed me into the room. "I call the shower first."  
I smiled, she was always cheerful, and that made me feel...happy? Yeah, happy. I'm glad that knowing me hasn't ruined her life. There was a king size bed, we must be in a couples room, I sighed as I took a pillow and put it on the floor near the door. I also took the extra covers. Night was starting to come in, and so was my drowsiness. Twenty minutes later, I was just about to fall asleep when I heard Christy's voice.  
"Um...You don't happen to have a spare change of clothes?" She said from inside the bathroom.  
"No, just what I'm wearing now. Want me to go ask Julie?"  
"No, don't, I don't think she likes me very much." She came out of the bathroom with a large towel wrapped around her body. "And stop starring."  
I laughed, she almost looked mad, she laughed along with me, "Can't help it, you're so damn hot."  
"Yeah I know," She smiled, "You're a really lucky guy you know? Even the writer of this story thinks so. You get two girls, and one of them is incredibly hot. Me!"  
I laughed again, she always could make me laugh, sometimes I forget the troubles in my life when I'm with her, I still feel bad about Julie but I guess that's the past now, have to move on. "Yeah, I am lucky, but there's always a price for the good things in life, and God likes to rip people off." I lied back down and tried to sleep again.  
"Why are you sleeping on the floor?" Christy asked from the bed.  
"Um...that's what you always made me do."  
"Only because there wasn't enough room in the bed, but this one is much bigger, come on, you're welcome to share. Just don't hog all the sheets. I'm a little cold, cause, you know."  
"Yeah, hehe. Yeah I know." I climbed into bed with a smile.  
"So..." Christy said, "I believe I promised you something in the prison."  
"Yeah."  
  
Chapter 18  
  
Morning slowly came, and I slowly woke up this time, no more snapping awake. I quietly got out of bed and went to take a shower. After I got out, I put my clothes and went to the front desk.  
"Hey you don't happen to have some extra clothes do you?" I asked the lady at the desk.  
"Yes we do, whose it for?"  
I guess Christy was my girlfriend now, "For my girlfriend. We forgot to pack."  
"Not a problem, I'll have the bellboy deliver some right now." She hit the bell and one of them came, he quickly went down to fetch us some garments and I went back to our room with them.  
Christy was still asleep, I laid the clothes on the bed and went out again, this time for breakfast. The dinner was serving the regular breakfast, pancakes, with eggs, and bacon, I would've preferred something Chinese but oh well. I took two servings and went back to our room again. This time, Christy was awake, she was dressing and when she saw me, she screamed.  
"Hey, get out, I'm naked!" She yelled. "You know what? Never mind, you've seen it. So, watcha got there? I hope it's breakfast."  
"Yeah, pancakes, eggs and bacon. Enjoy, hope you slept well."  
"Of course, you?" She started eating.  
"You know it!" I smiled. I wolfed down the food and got the hiccups. Christy laughed as she pounded on my back.  
"You shouldn't eat so fast, this is what happens."  
"You don't have to hit me so hard you know? And I don't think it's helping."  
"I know, but it's fun." Christy stopped hit me when someone knocked on our door.  
"It's probably Julie and Ten, I'll get it" I got up and opened the door, I immediately tried to close it again but it was too late.  
A hand shot through the crack between the door and the wall. The hand grabbed my throat and forced it's way inside. A young man appeared, in his other hand he held a gun. It was a 9mm silenced, just like mine, I looked carefully at it. My brain shot off when I saw the Elite insignia on it.  
"Who are you?" Christy asked, she got up from the bed and backed away from the door.  
"That's not important, go into the bathroom and lock the door, turn on the faucets, I need to talk to Thirteen here." The man said.  
Christy obeyed and I was left with the man. "So, what this that we have to talk about?" I said carefully, very careful that there was no attitude in my voice.  
"Sit," He let go of my throat and closed the door, then locked it. "I'm you."  
"Hun?" I was baffled, the dream.  
"I'm Thirteen, special ops, trained in stealth and assassination."  
"Ok...Who are you really?"  
"Actually I'm the former Thirteen, there was an Elite force before yours." He put the gun down on the coffee table, we sat opposite of each other. I could hear the shower running in the bathroom, I chuckled a little. "Haha, you're girlfriend is pretty funny, I tell her to turn on the faucet and she decides to take a shower. Well at least she doesn't waste time."  
"So what are you here for?"  
"You," He said. "I've been trying to find you for a while now."  
"Finding me? In what ways?"  
"I've bombed a few places, here and there."  
"That's not very good."  
"I know, but that's the way life works, those who have power seek to use it." He got up and turned around. The gun he put down was still in front of me. I didn't pick it up. I would never have picked it up even if that window of opportunity never closed.  
"Why? Why do you want me?"  
"I see you're not a backstabber." He sat down again. "I want to tell you a few things about Durden, and the Blue Squad."  
"Like what?"  
"Let's begin with a little story." The ma rose to his feet and started pacing. "One day a young man had to take a test, but this was no normal test. He had to get through obstacles, he was locked in a cell and stuffed into a bag."  
This was all too familiar for me.  
"That young man was given a gun and the permission to kill, but that young man also had something else. He had knowledge of something that had happened, he had overheard his employer talk about something. His employer was Durden, and Durden said a few things that the young man was not supposed to hear."  
"Like what?"  
"Like the reason Durden was looking for talented children to make into assassins is that he wants to kill them. He knows the kids he's found will never fully be loyal to him, therefore, he uses the kids that DO trust him to kill the ones that don't."  
"Blue and Red Squads."  
"Right, now I knew that so during my test I killed everyone."  
"Isn't that a little selfish? The lives of twelve for your one?"  
"Of course it is," The man sat down once again. "I never said I was some kind of a hero or anything. Deep down we all want to live."  
"So why should I trust you?"  
"You don't have to, but I know you do."  
"Why?"  
"I'm you remember? I'm the closest thing you have to someone who understands you." He picked up his gun and took out the clip, he tossed it to me, an I saw that it was empty. He pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger, the gun only clicked emptily. "I trust that you won't kill me, so now it's your turn to trust me."  
"What do you need me for?"  
"Co-operation."  
"You don't expect me to kill my friends, do you?"  
"That depends."  
I sighed, I did believe him, I had no reason not to, I always knew something was up with Durden, and now I knew what. This was becoming too messed up for my tastes. I might have to kill Ten, or even Julie, they were both good friends. I didn't want to. But maybe I had to.  
"On what?"  
"Where their loyalties lie."  
"Let's go ask." I got up and went for the door. Surprisingly the man let me and I went across the hall to Julie's room and knocked.  
"Who is it?"  
"Kyle, I need you two to come to my room for a second."  
After they came, the man told them the things he had told me, at the point where he said he set off a few bombs, Ten and Julie got extremely pissed. But I managed to calm them down.  
"So what the hell are we supposed to do?!" Julie screamed, "I'm not going to kill Kyle and I'm not going to betray Mr. Durden."  
"Same here." Ten said in a much quieter voice.  
"Your choice." The man reached into the back of his belt with both hands, with each, he pulled out a gun. Both had Elite insignias again.  
Both Ten and Julie gasped when they saw the guns, not that they were scared, just at the insignias. "Where did you get that?" Julie asked.  
"Same place you got yours, home sweet home." He smiled, "But the home has always been infested with mice, gotta kill them all."  
"You're kinda crazy dude," Ten said.  
"No shit." The man replied, he held one gun at each of them. "So, make a choice, you with us?"  
"Hey, I never said I was with you," I said from behind him.  
"Doesn't matter." He said without looking back, "You have to be with me."  
"I'll do it." Julie said.  
"Guess I'm coming along for the ride too." Ten sighed.  
The moment the man lowered his guns, Julie jumped at him, I sighed and sat down and thought about how hopelessly stubborn Julie was. The man agilely moved to the left and tripped Julie with his right foot, she hit the floor and rolled to her left. She tried to get up and attack him again, but he held her down with his foot on her stomach.  
"Hey, don't be so rough on her alright?" Ten said from opposite of me, he had sat down too. "She's just a little stubborn."  
"Alright fine! I give." The man let her up and she sulked on the bed.  
"So," He said, "I'm Matt, who are we missing?"  
"Me," Christy said as she walked out of the shower. She was wearing the clothes I had gotten her earlier this morning, a small tee-shirt and a short skirt. "You know, I think you got these clothes on purpose."  
"You know I did." I said with a smile. Julie didn't look too pleased, but the other two guys laughed with me.  
We ate breakfast together, the five of us. And by the end of it, Julie was warming up to Matt. He was actually a pretty charming guy, once you get past the fact that he held a gun to your face. I guess all Thirteens are dashingly handsome and witty guys.  
"Time for business guys and girls." Matt said. "We hit Durden tonight."  
  
Chapter 19  
  
"Time for business guys and girls." Matt said. "We hit Durden tonight."  
"Well then, we got an entire day to prepare." Ten said.  
"Hey, lets go out and have fun instead!" Christy called out. "We can relax first then hit Durden's place."  
"I'm up for that." I looked to Matt.  
"Well, you two do what you want, but I'm staying to make preparations." Matt, Julie and Ten stayed behind.  
"Shall we?" I held my arm out, Christy took it and we left.  
  
"Those two sure seem to have fun together." Ten said back in the room. "I've never seen Kyle this happy before."  
"Yeah..." Julie said quietly, "Maybe Christy's just the type for him."  
"You jealous?" Matt sat down beside Julie on the bed.  
"No. Of course not." The reply came too fast and Matt knew she was indeed very jealous.  
"Sure doesn't sound like it."  
"I'm not!" Julie practically screamed. After a long pause, Julie finally admitted it. "Maybe a little..."  
"You shouldn't be. He's happy, so why are you sad?" Matt said softly, "I mean, I don't know the relationship between you and Kyle, but come on, you shouldn't be like this."  
"I know,"  
"But, you just can't help it?"  
"Yeah."  
"Don't worry bout it, it'll be alright. You'll find someone else."  
"Maybe."  
"Hey, how's this? We can also go out and enjoy our day."  
"Um...what about Ten?"  
Ten looked up from a few pieces of papers he has been writing on, "Hun? Oh, I'm gonna stay here and work out the details. You two go ahead, I'll be fine." Inside Ten was sad, and jealous too, but the things Matt said made sense.  
  
"So, where to first?" I took a rental from the hotel, we were driving in a new BMW Z8.  
"How bout we go to a shooting range?" Christy said from beside me.  
"Hun? Why? You wanna learn how to shoot?" I was surprised but not so surprised, I kinda always knew she wanted to do this. I don't know what made me say yes, maybe it was the wind in my hair messing with my logical thinking, or maybe it was just Christy. "I know a place near here."  
We pulled up to a police academy where Durden has me trained in my earlier years. The man working at the front desk recognized me and welcomed me back.  
"Long time no see, back to sharpen your skills?"  
"Naw, I'm good enough, I'm here to teach my girlfriend." It still felt weird for me to say that, but Christy seemed pretty comfortable with it.  
"Alright, here's two guns, and room 2 is pretty empty. I think there's only 2 lanes in use."  
"Thanks Arnie, see you later." I handed a gun to Christy and lead her to room two.  
When we entered, I saw that Arnie was right, there were only two other people shooting, the rest of the room was ours. I chose a lane and went through the basics with her. "Hold the gun with your right hand, hold the butt of it with your left, inhale for short range shots, and exhale for long range."  
"Ok..." She aimed and pulled the trigger, the recoil sent her arm WAY off course. I had to duck to avoid being elbowed by her.  
"You sure this is gonna be safe? For me I mean. Maybe I should get some protection." I joked.  
"Shut up, it's only my first time." She tried again, and I ducked again.  
"Seriously, I'm in danger here."  
"Well then, help me deal with the recoil."  
"Alright alright." I put my arms around her and wrapped my hands around hers. "O man, I hope this isn't gonna hurt." I got ready for pain as she aimed. This time I held her arms in place when the recoil came, her shot was amazingly accurate, better than my first time.  
"See? I can do it, I just have to get used to the recoil."  
"Yeah, while you're training for accuracy, I can train for dodging." I laughed and she hit me lightly.  
For the next half hour she shot by herself, she hasn't made one that was actually on the target yet by herself. Her arms needed to be stronger for the recoil, or maybe...  
"Hey, try this gun." I handed her my 9mm, in my opinion it was the best gun, and my favorite. She had been using a revolver, but now the recoil on my gun was MUCH less.  
She tried a few times and she held the gun steady as she shot, she smiled at me and kept practicing. I sat on the bench behind her and watched. Another half hour passed and I noticed her shots were going wild again. She must be tired, I tapped her shoulder and she swung around in surprise, I guess she was really into her shooting to know where she was. Her entire body came with her, her arms held straight out towards me, I was looking down the barrel of my own gun.  
"WHOA!" I dropped to the floor, and a shot flew past me head. "HOLY SHIT!"  
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, you startled me." Christy let her arms drop.  
"Those aren't blanks you know?"  
"Sorry, I was concentrating really hard, I kinda forgot you were there."  
I sighed, but then I smiled. "Why do girls like guns so much?"  
"Fun?"  
"Never mind, let's go get something to eat, you must be hungry from all that shooting."  
"Now that you mention it." Christy held the gun out to me, she had used up pretty much all my bullets, she was on her second last clip when she shot at me. "How about we go to that really nice restaurant, Château Classique?"  
"Sure." I sighed, Christy was going to make my wallet loose weight faster than Jenny Craig can make me. But I didn't care, I knew she wasn't with me for my money, and besides, assassins get paid VERY well.  
I drove on her directions, and at the restaurant, the menu was baffling. First of all, all the entries were in French, which I only knew a little of, and the food they served were too sophisticated? Nasty? Wrong? I don't know. But I just chose what Christy chose, some kind of exotic meat, I think, oh well. At least she knew what she was doing, the meat was ok, as long as I drank a lot, I think I drank a few thousand dollars worth of wine. At one point the waiter became extremely friendly with me, I think it was at the one thousand dollar point. Christy laughed as she ate her food, she certainly seemed to enjoy it.  
"You're not supposed to eat that part you know?"  
"I'm too drunk to care anymore. Next time, we go to somewhere normal, like McDonalds."  
Christy laughed, "If you say so."  
"That's my line."  
"Just trying it out. I think I like it."  
"If you say so."  
After lunch, I paid the bill, I think alcohol makes you more than just drunk, it'll make you so calm and not caring that you're willing to shell out three thousand seven hundred sixty-two dollars and fifty nine cents, American, without bitching at the prices.  
Christy drove this time, I could barely walk, she had to help me into the car. She drove us back to our hotel, I don't think I could've done anything but sleep the alcohol off, I never wanted to do that again.  
"Hey, what happened to him?" Julie said when we entered our room.  
"Lunch, he un...had...a little too much wine." She laid me down on our bed and I fell into a light doze. My last thought was, I'm gonna need A WHOLE LOT of Aspirin tonight.  
  
Chapter 20  
  
I hate hangovers. Christy woke me up at midnight. My head felt, in a word, shitty. I couldn't see straight and I was popping Aspirin pills like it was candy. Christy got the rest of the guys together and the five of us talked about our plan.  
"Alright, I think I got something here," Ten said. "Julie, and I should go back first, we'll work from inside. Then you two will work from the outside."  
"That's all you came up with?" I asked.  
"Yeah, what did you think of?"  
"Can't think, too painful." I closed the Aspirin bottle, I was starting to feel drowsy again.  
"Jeeze man, why did you have to go and drink so much?" Matt said in exasperation.  
"That's my fault," Christy said with a small smile. "Maybe we should do this tomorrow, when Kyle's better."  
"Yeah, I think that might be smart." Julie lead Matt and Ten back to her room. I fell asleep beside Christy again.  
  
I suddenly snapped awake. Shit. There's clothes all over the floor, I don't remember them being there before. Smell of perfume isn't here, and why's lipstick on the mirror. "Be back soon." That's what it said. And still I don't understand. There's no sign of my friends, it's clear there's holes in my thoughts. Where the hell's my gun? And why are all my clips gone? Well now I guess I should've listened, to Julie's tone of voice before I slept. And still I don't understand. I went across the hall and same thing. They left without me. Should see the look on my face, my shit's all over the place. Why's this happening to me? Why'd you take both sets of keys? How am I gonna save you now? Why's love gotta be so tough.  
My first order of business was to get a car, Christy took the keys. I went down to the lobby and no one was there, I went outside and saw that they took both cars. I looked around the parking lot and saw that there was another car. I picked the lock and hotwired it, then I drove like mad towards Durden's place.  
Outside in the drive way, I found Matt. He was unconscious on the pavement.  
"Hey, wake up you shit head." I kicked him in the chest.  
He rolled over and choked a little. Then he coughed and stood up. "Aw...shit. Julie knocked me out here. Damn."  
"Yeah? Well you guys left without me,"  
"That was Christy's idea, said she didn't want you to get hurt."  
"Damn..." I sighed. We stood there looking at each other, thinking the same thoughts.  
"Women are stupid." We said together.  
"Alright let's go," Matt took out his gun and opened the gate. "Home sweet home."  
We went in the front door, and that was our first mistake. Eleven was there, he had a gun and it was pointed at me.  
"Aw...come on, I never catch a break." I dived down and tackled Eleven's legs, he went down and his shot went into the ceiling. Then Matt shot him.  
"Shit man! Why'd you do that?" I asked, I was furious.  
"He was going to shoot us." He said nonchalantly. "It's him or us."  
"Dammit man, could've knocked him out."  
"Meh," He shrugged. "You do it your way, and I'll do it my way."  
I let it go, there were more important things at hand. I picked up Eleven's gun, a 9mm, my favorite. I got a spare silencer from Matt and we moved further into the mansion.  
We arrived at a narrow hallway, it was barricaded with turned over desks, the entire Red Squad was there.  
"Throw down your weapons." One yelled to us.  
"You first." I yelled back, I looked at Matt and I saw him take out a grenade.  
"Hehe," Matt said as he pulled the pin.  
"Shit man! What the fuck?!" I covered my head and dropped to the floor when he threw it.  
"Fire in the hole." Matt yelled gleefully. The grenade ripped apart and the fireball consumed the hallway. With that one explosion, seven young men died. But I had stopped caring that much, I was more worried about what Matt was going to do next.  
We ran through the fire and Matt picked up One's assault rifle. I took another 9mm pistol and a few unburnt clips. We got out before the fire made the other bullets go off like popcorn.  
We searched the mansion for Durden but we couldn't find him at his office, or anywhere else. "He must be at the testing facility." Matt said.  
"Hun?" At first I didn't remember, but then I realized he was talking about where we were both tested for our eligibility. "Maybe..."  
We got out and drove to somewhere, I was never clear about the specific location because I was either drugged or blinded when I was taken there. Outside, Matt hesitated.  
"How bout a toast?"  
"What?" I was surprised he said that, I was thinking the same thing. "Sure. There's a bar over there." I pointed across the street.  
After Matt came back with two cups of scotch he explained the toast. It was the same one I knew. "Who taught you that?" I asked curiously. Maybe he learned it from someone I knew.  
"My dad taught me, before Durden took me in."  
I was shocked, but then again, I expected that. Matt looked a lot like me, I thought he was my brother for some time now, but I was never sure. My first clue was the way he talked, then there was the way he acted, both very similar to me. And now the toast confirmed it.  
"So, you're my brother."  
"No..." Matt started the toast, and I followed. We both drank and we both finished.  
"What do you mean?"  
Matt threw his glass up in the air and took out his gun. He shot it three times before it fell to pieces on the ground. "I am you. Not your brother, we are the same person, I'm just a year older."  
I threw my glass and shot it six times, three from each of my guns. "I don't understand but, ok. Now let's go see Durden."  
We went in and I recognized the structure, the same grey walls and the same numerous intersections. There were also the same shadows, and corners to hide in. We slowly advanced avoiding the rest of the Blue Squad. Seven, Eight and Twelve.  
We were at the room where I had first found my equipment about a year ago. I was older now, I knew more about the world and I was more pissed. I saw a note on the table, it was in Durden's writing.  
"Give up, I've got Nine, Ten and that girl in my possession."  
I looked at Matt, I saw the same anger on his face. "Let's go, save that anger for later."  
We made our way to some stairs, I didn't remember seeing them when I was here before, we went down and there was just one large room. I looked in through the key hole and saw Durden, I also saw three people handcuffed to the far wall, and three people with guns held at the prisoners.  
"Durden's holding them hostage."  
"This is a war we live in, the sides are drawn and we're all wrapped up in it." Matt closed his eyes and whispered a prayer. My voice echoed with his as we prayed for God's favor.  
"Whosoever sheds my blood," We whispered. "By my hand shall his blood be shed. For the image of God may deem a man. Destroy all that which is evil, so that what is good may flourish."  
I held both my guns up, one in each hand, Matt had his assault rifle.  
"Gonna be nice to rest in heaven." Matt said, he stood to my right and in front of the door.  
"Yeah, I think...I think that death is an eternal slumber, where I can rest for all of time. I think I'm gonna like it." I replied.  
"It's nice to know there's someone in this world that loves me, Julie's one hell of a girl, stubborn sometimes but I can deal with that."  
"Christy's the perfect girl for me, she's always cheerful, makes me cheerful too, one hell of an optimist."  
"You ready to die for them?"  
"Always have been."  
  
We kicked down the door and walked in, we heard the girls scream in the distance, and I saw Ten kick Seven in the face. Durden shot Ten and Eight shot at me, while Twelve shot at Matt, a bullet pierced my chest and I threw up blood. Matt's left leg was shot and he fell to one knee. I got up and helped Matt up and the bullets kept coming at us, we haven't returned fire yet. This was a suicide trip and we both were going to make it good.  
"And shepherds we shall be, for thee my lord for thee." We whispered, blood flowed out of my mouth and Matt left a trail of his blood as we walked closer. "Power hath descended forth from thy hand, so that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command. And we shall flow a river forth unto thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nominee patri et fili, et spiritus sancti."  
We opened fire and I shot down Seven, my left arm was thrown back by a shot from Durden's SP12 shotgun. I kept shooting with my right arm. Matt sprayed bullets towards Twelve and Eight, he was careful not to hit any of the girls. Durden shot him too, he collapsed beside me, his chest was a mess. Somewhere I heard Julie scream out.  
"Good bye." Matt closed his eyes, his rifle fell out of his hands and clattered to the floor. He was still faintly breathing but I knew he couldn't be saved.  
Durden laughed as he kept shooting at me, my left arm was a bloody mess and my leg was also scratched up from the pellets. "I win."  
"No, I do." I got up and aimed at Durden, just as I pulled the trigger, My right arm was thrown back by a shotgun shell. I fell to the ground grasping at my shoulder. I saw visions of the times I've come close to death. Once at the Don's mansion, for duty. Once from breaking Christy out of the jail cell, for love. This time, this time was for me. This time it was my choice, this time I will die. But not before Durden. I took out my fiber wire and ran at Durden, on the way there I was shot in the chest, but somehow, even though my shirt was soaked with my blood, I kept going, when I finally got to him, he was reloading. I could see the fear in his eyes now, he was afraid that I was going to win after all, in any other situation, he would've won. But this game was tilted in my favor. Durden was playing to win and live, I was playing to just win.  
I jumped up and flipped over Durden, in the air I hooked the wire around his throat, when I landed, the impact and force on the wire was so strong that it cut into his neck, his organs were immediately severed and he died trying to choke out a few last words. I found the strength to pick Christy's handcuff, and she supported me as I worked on Julie's.  
I collapsed after that, Christy held me like she did before, outside of the prison. And Julie went to Matt. He was still clinging to life, perhaps in hopes of seeing Julie one last time.  
"You're gonna be alright," Julie cried. She was frantically trying to mend Matt's wounds. "Just hold on, please live, I won't be able to take it if you died. I just met you."  
"I'll be fine." Matt smiled, apparently I had misjudged his love for life, and Julie of course. "Just a few scrapes here and there."  
"You're just like Kyle, always making big things seem small." Julie helped Matt to his feet and they both kneeled by my side.  
I wasn't in as good shape as Matt, I was definitely going to die. But this time, I didn't want to. This was the one time I wanted to live longer, so I can be with Christy longer. But I guess God had other business for me.  
"I don't want to die Matt." I gasped out the words. Christy was crying as she patched up my stomach, the blood kept flowing through the bandages. "I'm finally happy."  
"Kyle, there's something that dad told me about being a man. He said, to be a man you need to be able to pick things up from their place when you need them, but you also need to be able to put them down when your time is up." Matt coughed and almost fell, but Julie caught him in time.  
"How can you say that?!" Christy jumped up and shoved Matt back, he fell even though Julie tried to hold him up. "I want him to live!"  
"Sorry, but life happens." Matt said after he got up again, he also held Julie back from hitting Christy. "You need to accept it just as Kyle needs to."  
"I...I guess you're right." She knelt by my side again, I thought about the things Matt said, he DID make a lot of sense.  
"One last prayer? Brother?" Matt coughed again, this time blood sprayed out of his mouth. We started speaking at the same time.  
"We shall spread our blackened wings and be the vengeful striking hammer of God, we shall have the protection of all the angels in heaven. We shall be known as the saints of vengeance." Matt threw up blood then, and so did I. "Tomorrow life begins anew, tomorrow life ends again. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." Matt and I spoke our final words together, like long time friends, like brothers, and like one. I slipped away from the world as Christy's tear fell on my face. I tried to whisper 'don't cry' to her, but my strength left me. Instead I smiled, and this time I was truly happy. 


End file.
